To Fall From Grace
by Shikami Yamino
Summary: After a year of peace, it is once again threatened... but this time is the source closer to home than the G-boys would like?
1. To Fall From Grace - Part I

  


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**Disclaimer:** All characters and specifics of "Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing" are copyrighted Sunrise, Bandai and the Sotsu Agency. All rights reserved. This fanfiction is property of Shikami Yamino and is not intended for any monetary purpose nor an infringement of copyright laws. No one is to post/host/use any aspect of this fanfic without explicit permission from the author. 

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**To Fall From Grace - Part I**   
--- by Shikami Yamino 

* * *

Pain. 

Heero inwardly grimaced at the flowering crimson blossom that was barely showing up but beginning to stain the shoulder of his black tuxedo jacket. Despite the actions, his eyes and gun did not waver and nor did his face give away any indication of his emotions. He was in his element and even after a year, his skills hadn't diminished and neither had they mellowed. 

The Perfect Soldier was back in action. 

But this assignment was taking on a personal note and it was beginning to mess with the human that was slowly but surely growing inside him. This assignment, his first as a Preventer was one of the toughest he'd know... because he was going up against one of his own... 

* * *

Heero Yuy sat down at the desk in his small apartment on a backwater colony in L1. Though the war had been over for two years now and Mariemeia's siege the news of a year ago, Heero still found it hard to break years of training and ignore the laptop that was always present on his desk. 

Almost eighteen, Heero Yuy was becoming one of the most exclusive computer programmers around. However instead of going into business, Heero found more freedom in accepting random jobs than a full time position and even then, he limited himself to designing top grade security systems. He felt it was a way to continue the battle he had been a part of since he was a child and even though peace was at hand, someone still had to keep an eye on it in the event that something like Mariemeia happened again. 

The rest of the time, Heero avoided the public, still not very sure of human emotions and usually limited his social gatherings to his former pilots - now his friends. Preferring a comfortable but small apartment, Heero still trained because he found it hard not to... it was something that was instinctive now and he was secure in the fact that his body was still able to function in top condition. 

Scanning the mail coming in, Heero gave a small smile as he read the lines of an email Quatre had sent him, asking how he was doing. Indeed the smiles came easier now and though few outside of his fellow pilots saw them, they were still there. The Winner heir was informing him of the Christmas party that was to be held on one of the Winner steadings to celebrate another year of peace and in the light scolding tones Heero could almost imagine, Quatre had said that he'd better be there or he'd be there by force. 

Eyes softening, Heero rapidly typed back a reply that said he'd be there and continued scanning his mail. After a while, one caught his eye. The email was Wufei's and Heero had become closer with the Chinese pilot over the past year; ever since Wufei had spent a great deal of his vacation time on L1, practicing and sparring with the Japanese pilot. But this wasn't from Wufei's private account. Retrieving it, Heero's eyes narrowed at the logo that popped up on the official document. 

Preventers. 

In formal and clipped words, Wufei had outlined the situation. Someone was beginning to threaten the peace again and the Gundam pilots were being drawn back together to fight what only they could. The words became very vague at the objective of the assignment only to say that the leaders of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation was slowly being reported dead and that a secret organization under the surveillance of the Preventers was beginning to make their move. 

Heero's eyes narrowed at the last sentence. _It is imperative that the Gundam pilots handle this situation as soon as possible._ Why the Gundam pilots? Heero snorted. Something really reeked about the story and unless he missed his mark, which he never did, they weren't being told everything about the assignment. Shaking his head, Heero switched off the laptop and grabbed it before stuffing it in a small carry sack. Packing quickly and efficiently, Heero snatched his jacket off the back of his chair and swinging the pack onto his shoulder, left his apartment, remembering to lock and activate the security system. 

* * *

Walking through the doors of the spaceport and stepping once again onto Earth, Heero scanned the street before stopping at the unmarked van with tinted windows. Narrowing his eyes, Heero made out the slim shadow of someone obviously watching him and walked towards it. The door opened automatically as he reached it and Wufei's distinct voice muttered to him. "Get in." 

Cautiously stepping in, Heero seated himself in the passenger seat before Wufei took off in a leisurely manner and without looking at him, switched on the radio. "This is Dragon, last package is here." Wufei switched off and he kept his eyes on the road, silent. 

Heero gazed sideways at the Chinese pilot. Worry was pinching at the bronze face and a haggard tired look was beginning to make itself known. Suspicion made its presence known in Heero's head and he turned to Wufei. "What's going on?" 

Wufei didn't even turn. "You'll be briefed as soon as we get to headquarters, meanwhile there's a uniform in the back that should fit you." 

Casting another look at Wufei, Heero climbed into the back and quickly switched uniforms. "The others are here?" 

A slight pause made Heero look up from doing his tie but Wufei answered quietly. "Aa..." 

* * *

Heero glanced around the room that Wufei had shown him before disappearing and telling him that he would be informed when he will be briefed. The room was plain and efficient but also elegant, a small bathroom connected to the side and a thumb print system that would only emit him into the room. Not totally fool-proof but pretty damned good. This was his quarters for the duration in which he was a member of the Preventers and Heero assumed that from the moment he'd stepped into the shuttle bound for Earth, he had become a member. 

Opening his carry sack and stowing away his clothes, he found extra sets of uniforms in his closet along with various 'equipment'. Electronics and small gadgets sat on one shelf while an assortment of pistols, automatics and submachines sat on the rack under the boxes of explosives. Raising an eyebrow, Heero picked up a small handgun and, glancing at the butt, noticed a slight imprint that was almost invisible. Glancing at the ID tag that had been pinned to his breast pocket from the moment he'd stepped onto Preventers premises, he noted with interest that all the equipment in his closet had been registered to him. 

Tucking the gun into the holster conveniently situated inside his jacket, he looked up as the door chimed and Wufei's voice sounded on the speakers. "It's time..." 

Stepping outside, Heero followed Wufei down the corridors before reaching a pair of double doors. Easing the door open without knocking, he entered and motioned for Heero. A huge bay window was situated on the opposite side and a large desk piled with files sat in front of it. He nodded at the two standing figures that were closest to him and received a small nod from Trowa and a tight smile from Quatre. Stepping up, Heero locked gazes with the Director of the Preventers, Lady Une. 

She smiled grimly at them before motioning them to the seats situated in front of her desk as Wufei leaned on the side of it, eyes closed and face impassive. Lady Une began talking. "Now that you're all here... I guess we can begin..." 

Confused eyes met his and Quatre gazed at him in silent question. While Heero remained impassive, it was Trowa who spoke. "Where's - " 

He was cut off when Lady Une began again. "That will wait till later." 

Heero darted a small glance at the faces of each of his friends before returning his gaze. Wufei had looked slightly pained while Trowa's face had immediately closed off. Quatre frowned and pursed his lips but otherwise remained quiet and Heero could feel his own face slip into the all-too-familiar mask of emotionlessness. 

Slipping three files across the table for each of them, Lady Une talked while the pilots flipped through them. "Since three months ago, one of our operatives on L2 reported slight disturbances in the underground and the news of a new militia being formed has been kept a tight lid on. We've kept up surveillance but it's all been very quiet to avoid leaking by the press." Une frowned before resting her hands under her chin. "So far the militia, or what we know of it has kept a tight profile and hasn't shown any signs of becoming any large threat. Its objective we understand is to overthrow the peace we have attained and return the colonies and Earth to a state of war but it lacks the support by the majority of the public except for a few vigilantes and a few who can't let go of the fighting." 

Heero raised an eyebrow and scanned the documents again. Just a brief account of what had happened in the last three months, nothing specific, nothing that mentioned what they were supposed to do. 

Quatre almost read his mind. "So you want us to find out exactly what's going on." 

Une shook her head. "The threat of the militia is well covered by our operatives and their actions are nothing that would really worry us simply because they lack the support for a full on attack. However despite lack of support, we fear that this militia may gain its goal by simpler methods than an all out attack." Une sighed and glanced outside at the moon before continuing. 

"Four weeks ago Ambassador Kenjo, one of the main campaigners for the continuation of peace died of a drug overdose when his previous medical records showed no signs of drug usage or abuse. Then a week later Ambassador Parloff received a sniper's shot to his head outside his residence in Rome. Last week, Minister Alain was the victim of a hit and run incident when he was standing outside his car in Moscow. He's now in intensive care but we're told that he will not recover without serious brain damage." 

Wufei gave a slight snort but kept his eyes closed. "They're dropping like flies..." 

Trowa's voice was devoid of affliction. "You want us to find out who the sniper is and neutralize him." 

Une closed her eyes and took a deep breath before reaching to switch on the laptop. "Iie. When you do find him, you will try to talk to him first and neutralization will be the last option on the list." 

Quatre looked confused. "Doushite? If he is ruining the peace then..." 

Heero cut in. "There's the problem of finding out who he is first." 

Lady Une stopped typing and glanced at them over the top of the laptop. "You won't need to find out who he is... we already know." With that she turned the laptop around and the gasps and widening of eyes couldn't be masked. 

Heero stared for a while longer before glaring up at Une. "This is a joke." 

Une shook her head. "It's no joke. This was taken from one of the infra-red surveillance cameras around Ambassador Parloff's residence. We have since then converted the image and enhanced the quality. You can see the time, date and the area under surveillance on the right hand corner. You may cross-reference this information with Ambassador Parloff's time of death if you wish." 

Quatre was open-mouthed. "This... this is impossible..." 

Trowa was still a little stunned but said, "The original... I want to see the original." 

Turning the laptop around Lady Une typed a few more keys and returned the laptop to its former position. Now the infra-red picture and the enhanced version stood side-by-side... and there was no mistaking the picture for a fake. 

"Masaka..." the word was out of Heero's mouth before he could control it. 

In the figure's hand was a sniper's rifle but it wasn't the rifle that had caught the three pilots' gaze. The slender figure was unmistakable as was the long braid of hair at its back, the black cap that endowed its head and the bright eyes that glanced at the camera with disdain and humor. The smile was more patronizing and less impish now but the figure was still the one that they remembered. 

Duo Maxwell smirked dangerously back at them from the picture on the laptop, his hand held in a slight waving position. 

As the pilots continued to stare, Lady Une spoke. "Now you see why we need you..." 

* * *

Four former Gundam pilots trooped into their private base of operations in the Preventers headquarters by pressing each of their thumbs to the sensitized pad outside the door. Once inside, the door slid shut and the four were left to their own devices. 

Wufei walked around the started speaking. "This will be our base for the duration of the assignment. The door is sensitized to us and will not admit anyone else into the room unless one of us accompanies them. The room is sound proof and is not video monitored so we can speak freely in here." All this was delivered in a monotonous voice as Wufei took as seat. 

"Dammit Wufei why didn't you tell us?" Uncharacteristically Quatre slammed his hands on the large table that stood in the middle of the room while keeping blazing eyes on the Chinese boy on the other side. Heero and Trowa raised their eyebrows from their almost casual positions leaning against the various electronic equipment around the room. Quatre raged on, "You've been rising in the ranks of the Preventers. You and Sally and the others only answer to Lady Une so you should have known as soon as the information became available. Why the hell didn't you tell us?!" 

Wufei raised his eyes to the azure ones of the young Winner and asked calmly, "Would you have believed me Quatre? Would you have believed that one of us who had fought almost to the death for peace is now trying to ruin it all? Would you have believed that it was one of our friends who was killing off the very people we swore to support?" For the first time that day, Wufei's voice held a trace of pain and regret but the eyes were still hard as ever. 

"Why?" The single worded question came from Trowa as he unfurled his long limbs and placed a comforting hand on Quatre's shoulder before seating himself opposite Wufei. 

Wufei shook his head. "We don't know... we only managed to figure out that it was Duo a week ago when the enhanced pictures came back and even then Sally and I were dispatched to make sure that nothing had tampered with the cameras or the enhancing." 

Quatre made an unbelieving gesture. "It's impossible... it could never happen... he - " 

"It's not Duo." All head swiveled towards Heero as he made his way to the table. "Duo could never do such a thing." He turned molten steel blue eyes on Wufei. "Something must have caused him to do this, tampered with his brain." The eyes narrowed. "That's why neutralization is out of the question isn't it Wufei? Out with it, what do you suspect?" 

Wufei returned the steel gaze before turning away and putting his forehead on his hands. "We suspect that Duo has had a run in with the head of the militia and we have it from a first-hand witness that Duo disappeared for a few months after the last time we saw him at Quatre's sister's wedding." 

"Who was this witness?" 

Wufei looked up. "Hilde Schbeiker." When the others were silent with this information, Wufei continued. "After another month in which Hilde said that Duo seemed restless and agitated, he finally left without a trace. That was three months ago." 

Trowa looked thoughtful. "Between then and a month ago when the killing started?" 

Wufei shrugged. "It is an educated guess to say that Duo returned to the militia but we don't have any information on that and not even a shuttle passenger list showing any of Duo's regular aliases. It was like he disappeared from L2 and then resurfaced on Earth two months later." 

"So you suspect that in the space of the few months after Quatre's party and the two months previous, something was done to Duo to make him into this psycho today?" Heero concluded. 

Wufei nodded. "But we don't have any proof." 

Silence descended for a few minutes as everyone paused to digest the information but Wufei spoke up again quietly. "I'm sorry to have dragged you all into this again but when we received the information and with Zechs, Noin and Sally all stationed on the militia aspect, there really was no one - " 

Quatre smiled wanly and cut in. "Don't worry about it Wufei. It's best we handle this anyway. After all, we know Duo the best..." 

"And not just his personality," Heero said. "We know the way he operates and it doesn't matter how much conditioning he's gone through, that picture still says all we need to know." Heero stood up and poured himself a cup of coffee. "He knows that we're going to come after him, the photo was his way of telling us that it was him and not someone else." 

At Quatre's questioning glance, Heero elaborated. "I presume that the late Ambassador had cameras to scan every square inch of his property. Why is it that Duo only showed up on that one, completely facing the camera with everything distinctive about him revealed? The baka knew..." 

Trowa sighed. "So what do we do now?" 

Wufei's eyes were determined. "We need to track the baka down and then find out exactly where he was in the months he disappeared. As it is, we're basing everything on the hope that we can talk some sense into him." 

Heero nodded and moved towards the database. "Let's get to work..." 

* * *

Long into the night, only the heavy clacking of keys and the quiet sounds of the coffee machine working could be heard in the large room. Heero scanned flight plan after flight plan of the aircrafts leaving from the airfields surrounding Rome heading in the general direction of Moscow but he was soon running out of patience, which he usually had in abundance. He had to admit that without some sort of clue, this kind of search was futile. Duo could have taken any number of detours and used any number of strange aliases that they would never be able to find out. 

_Where the hell are you Duo?_

Startled out of his concentration, Heero glanced at the door as the chimes sounded and a woman's voice spoke with a trace of a smile. "Water... bearing food." He watched as Wufei gave a tiny wry smile and pressed the door open. 

Sally Po walked in with a large tray of food and smiled at the pilots. "Hisashiburi desu ne? Thought you guys might like something to eat..." 

Quatre stood up and stretched before returning the smile with a sad expression. "It's nice to see you again Sally... Just wish it wasn't under these circumstances..." 

Sally gave him a sympathetic grimace as the rest of the pilots sat down and took a cup of coffee and a pastry, "Don't we all... Any luck?" 

Wufei gave a negative shake of his head. "No... it's like he disappeared again... Why are you here?" 

"There was no longer any need for so many of us to be there so the boss brought me back here to be backup. Zechs and Noin are still watching the area." 

Trowa nodded. "That would be more convenient since we'll be spending a lot of time on the road after this." 

Heero agreed. "It would make communications easier." 

"Speaking of communications, the boss wants to know if you've chosen your codenames yet." Sally directed the glance at Wufei but noted that he shook his head. 

"Codenames?" Quatre asked. 

Sally nodded her head. "Normally low level Preventers use their real names but high-ranking ones such as Wufei, Zechs, Noin and I, use codenames to prevent people tracing us on our assignments. As we're likely to use any number of aliases, it's the only thing that will lead the Preventers to our location." 

Heero glanced at Wufei. "Dragon." Wufei nodded stoically. 

Quatre frowned. "Then why would we - " 

Wufei cut him off. "This is a clearance red case which only the highest ranking Preventers are allowed to undertake. From the moment you agreed to help, you became a high-ranking Preventer. You need only answer to Lady Une and have access to almost all information stored on the Preventer database." 

Trowa looked thoughtful and Sally hurriedly cut in. "This doesn't mean that you must become a full-time member - " 

Quatre smiled. "Don't worry... we have no objections. We worked hard for this peace, it's only appropriate that we help keep it..." 

Heero nodded and spoke one word. "Falcon." 

Wufei nodded at his choice with a knowing glance. Just as he'd chosen his name with association between him and Nataku, Heero still couldn't forget soaring the skies in his own Wing. 

"Lynx," was Trowa's choice and Wufei smiled. Of course, the long-limbed, agile and powerful cat was in so many ways like Trowa that it was easy to tell why Trowa had chosen it. 

Quatre looked around and smiled enigmatically. "Wolf." 

Before the others could turn to ponder Quatre's choice, Lady Une's face appeared on the vid screen. "Representative Ottas was just reported gunned down in a drive-by. We have a trace on the car and the helicopter departs in five minutes. Wufei you know what to do." 

Before the vid screen had even clicked off, Wufei was already walking towards the door. Stopping at the storage closet, he opened it and tossed each of the others a portable communit and as he walked out, snapped out instructions. "Our rooms are down the same hallway. You should find a bag in the closet and pack. Bring whatever firearms and ammunition you feel is necessary and I'll meet you by the express elevator at the end of the hallway in two minutes." 

Thumbing open his door, Heero felt the familiar presence of adrenaline rushing in his blood. Finding the bag, Heero tossed a few necessities and his laptop into the larger compartment before unzipping the padded pocket and grabbing a few explosives and detonation devices. Tucking a larger automatic in the other holster inside his jacket and a few extra clips in the bag, Heero shut the closet and jogged out of the room. 

Finding Wufei waiting for him and Trowa and Quatre not far behind, Heero stepped into the elevator and was silent on the swift journey to the roof. Jumping into the helicopter, Heero felt a sense of unease before quickly shaking it off and staring out into the star-studded night. 

* * *

A middle-aged man sat in front of a glowing computer screen as the darkness of the inside of a tinted windowed car and chuckled as data fed into the computer. "They're fast." 

A slight smirk from the shadow seated on the other side of the wide car was issued. "They're nothing if not the best." 

A smug laugh. "The best ne? If they're the best how do you think you'll out run them?" 

A flash of white teeth in the darkness as the glow of the computer screen was slightly reflected in the darkened amethyst eyes that held a little glow of wild light. "They're the best... but I am Death..." 

* * *

Wufei spoke tersely into the communit. "This is Dragon, checking in..." 

Sally's slightly distorted voice replied on the other end of the line. "Quarry is heading towards spaceport V34. Judging from relative speed, your ETA is eight minutes 36 seconds." 

Wufei made an affirmative noise. "Ryoukai, Dragon out." Clicking off the unit, Wufei glanced around the helicopter pod and noticed with faint amusement that nothing much had changed in the year that they had been apart. Though softer, Trowa was still silent as ever, crossing his arms and staring out the window as though he was without a care in the world. Quatre was wearing a worried frown but was otherwise quiet and readying himself for the assignment ahead. Heero was checking and rechecking his guns, a quiet expression on his face that relayed nothing of the turmoil that Wufei knew he must be feeling. 

Out of all of them, Heero had known Duo the best; they'd been best friends and though the end of the war separated all of the them, Wufei knew that the two had kept up contact. In fact, Heero had been a little withdrawn that Duo hadn't contacted him when Wufei had last visited the former Wing pilot on L1. No doubt Heero was feeling slightly responsible for not having kept a closer eye on Duo as Duo had on him so many times during the war. 

Wufei reminisced and grimaced. But they couldn't blame anyone because in reality after the immediate end of the war, Heero had been the one who looked most likely to be unable to cope; not the violet-eyed laughing reincarnate of Death who had always looked as if he was the most 'together' person in the whole world. 

A burst from the communit roused Wufei from his thoughts. "Dragon, quarry has speeded up." 

Heero looked up and took out his own unit. "This is Falcon. How long to the spaceport?" 

"At current speed, quarry will reach the spaceport two minutes before you." 

Heero cursed under his breath and then tapped the pilot on the shoulder. The Preventer pilot looked around with a frightened gaze as his eyes met unforgiving molten cobalt. "Can't you fly any faster?" 

"I - I'm sorry sir - I..." 

Heero growled and turned back to grab a parachute from the cabinet. Throwing the parachute at the pilot, Heero gestured impatiently for him to strap it on and not even waiting till the pilot's hands were fully on the rip cord, Heero opened the cockpit door and the pilot sailed out. Shutting the door again with effort, Heero gestured for Wufei to take the co-pilot's seat as he seated himself and pushed the chopper as fast as it could go. 

Trowa's calm voice drifted up. "We're not going to make it..." 

Heero gritted his teeth and ignoring the whine of the engines, continued to push the helicopter faster. 

Quatre looked up and switching on his laptop, spoke into the communit. "This is Wolf. Please pull up a list of immediate outbound shuttles from spaceport V34." After a few seconds the computer beeped and Quatre glanced at the list muttering to himself. "Freighter... waste disposal..." 

Trowa glanced over Quatre's shoulder and commented, "Don't waste your time." Into his communit, he said, "Hold all outbound public and private passenger and cargo shuttles until further notice." 

Heero growled from the pilot's seat. "And get us a free shuttle just in case." 

Sally's voice replied, "Ryoukai." 

* * *

The car stopped in front of a hanger and a slightly older man of approximately thirty five stepped out of one side still clutching the open laptop before a younger man in complete black stepped out the other side. Pulling his black cap further over his eyes, the young man smirked and walked towards the hangar, the older man following behind. Subordinates hurried to open the hangar doors and the two walked in. 

The computer beeped and the older man laughed. "As expected they've halted all outbound traffic going through the spaceport." 

The younger man kept his eyes down but the wide full mouth turned in a smug smile. "How convenient that we thought to bring our own ticket out then." 

As they neared the ramp, the older man commented, "Are you sure you can handle them?" 

The braided figure turned and the hard violet eyes pinned the gray eyes of the other. "If I said I can handle them, I can handle them - don't question my abilities, I can do more than you ever will. I handle them my way, in my own time." The violet fire burned out and was replaced by the same self-confident smirk. "So just sit back and enjoy the ride Pops, it's gonna be a bumpy one." 

The boy known as Duo Maxwell turned and jumped up the ramp, disappearing into the hatch. The older man's brows lowered in a dangerous scowl and the lips thinned in what was barely contained fury. Turning up the ramp to the saluting officer, he snapped a terse order. "Watch him. He could become very dangerous." 

The officer returned a crisp salute. "Ryoukai, Nicklaren-sama." 

* * *

Just as the helicopter reached the airfield in which they had located the car, Heero's eyes were unwaveringly drawn to the large plane just lifting its nose as it sped down the runway. "What the hell - " 

Wufei tracked Heero's eyes and dark sloe orbs widened. "Water, I thought all outbound traffic had been halted." 

Sally's voice came back. "All traffic going through the spaceport has been halted. The one outbounding just now is not recorded in the spaceport's registers." 

Quatre's eyes followed the plane as it achieved liftoff and sped into the distant sky. "The model number, we need identification." 

A pause was heard before Sally's quiet voice reported, "The latest in plane-shuttle combinations - the PS314 - capable of holding large amounts of fuel, high speeds and achieving liftoff from a horizontal position." 

"Kuso!" Heero exploded under his breath, "The shuttle?" 

"Preventer shuttle is ready and waiting in airfield 3, launch ramp has already been installed." 

The helicopter jumped forward and soon all four pilots scrambled out of the small craft into the larger unmarked shuttle already firing up. Settling himself behind the controls, Heero hit the thrusters and the craft jerked before speeding up and climbing the launch ramp. 

Wufei kept talking as he shrugged into his deep space suit. "Water, track the craft with satellite." 

"Current heading is directly for L2-V16753." 

Heero adjusted the course of the shuttle and paused to shrug on his own suit. Quatre looked up, "V16753? Isn't that...?" 

Wufei gave him a terse nod. "Duo's colony." Taking a seat, he addressed Sally. "Please report any changes in heading, Dragon out." With that silence descended. 

Quatre was the first to break the silence as he stared out the window. "It seems impossible... why is this happening? The peace, is it so hard for people to accept...? And why Duo of all people??" The blond Arabian turned back and his slightly watery eyes fixed on each of his friends. "Why Duo?" 

Trowa, seated behind Quatre, placed a comforting hand on the Arabian's shoulder and squeezed slightly. Only when Quatre turned back did he see the underlying and not completely masked look of desolate sadness and remorse on Trowa's face. 

Heero grimaced but kept his gaze outside at the stars that seemed so familiar. Surprising even himself, Heero replied. "Duo was one of us. Gundam pilots who were seen as war heroes. Whoever did this knew that the Preventers wouldn't be able to simply kill Duo off and leave it at that..." 

Wufei nodded. "There is that... and then there's more..." 

Trowa fixed Wufei with a look. "More?" 

Wufei stared at the floor. "The Duo Maxwell we knew was the cheerful pilot that was as dedicated as any one could be in a war, but we knew less of his abilities than we would have thought." 

Heero looked up, surprised - and it showed on his face. 

"As we all know, Duo is a dead shot, he never missed a shot with any gun unless he wanted to miss." 

Heero grimly reminisced the first time he and Duo had met - and had ended up with a bullet in his shoulder and leg while he'd been moving - wounds he was usually able, and had been expecting, to avoid. 

Wufei didn't notice Heero's reaction. "He was also an accomplished actor - he could pull any role off, but what we don't know is that Duo is also a number of other things we would never expect. First of all, from what records we've dug up, Duo has killed without mercy. Switch blades, not guns, were his weapon of choice on L2 and he rarely missed - those who tried to messed with Duo Maxwell and his gang were promptly dispatched with little effort." 

Trowa's one visible green eye widened. 

"From his days at the Maxwell Church, we can discern that it was a happy time except for when the Massacre happened that took the lives of all that Duo cared about. Duo somehow survived and for the next few years before he was picked up by the Sweepers, Duo wasn't to be found, there are no records of him anywhere. However what we do know is that the Federation leaders who ordered the destruction of that quadrant of the colony were reported dead one after another until none were left." 

Quatre gasped. 

Wufei continued. "After that what Duo did is a mystery but when he was picked up by the Sweepers, he was already a more than competent pilot and terrorist." Wufei made a noise of self-contempt in his throat. "And to think all those times I thought him weak and un-dedicated." 

"Why do you say that?" Quatre inquired. 

"Because though Duo had the skills, he chose not to show them. In addition to acting, Duo was an escape artist, he could never be held for long and anyone on L2 who has ever been on bad terms with our Shinigami will tell you so." Seeing Heero about to object, Wufei ceded, "Unless he was severely wounded," indicating the time Heero had rescued Duo from OZ. 

"He was a better mechanic than we thought, he just chose not to work on Deathscythe - he has a list of sabotages credited to his name in the old Federation files. He is a hacker, like all of us; he's a firearms expert; he's also a poisons expert." Wufei shrugged and looked up with pained eyes. "Let's face it, Duo never showed us much of his personality despite all that chatter and laughing. But exactly how much we didn't know about our Shinigami astounded me to say the least when I read up on it." 

Heero looked withdrawn. "No wonder he called himself the Shinigami..." 

Wufei smiled wanly. "Damned right..." 

Quatre frowned. "But why pick Duo? Sure, he might have done all that stuff but why not one of us? Surely Heero or Trowa would have been a better choice..." He cast an apologetic look towards the two in question but found shakes of the head in reply, indicating they didn't mind. 

"You forget Quatre, whatever Heero or Trowa did, no matter how many they killed, they killed under orders - frequently without explanations but logical and helped further a rightful cause nonetheless. Duo killed with his own free will - he had his own reasons and he justified the deaths with them. When Duo was taken in by the Sweepers, a psychological test showed that Duo suppressed large amounts of grief and guilt. After much discussion with the Preventer shrinks we think that the main reason Duo didn't show his other skills was because he felt guilty about what he had done. If anybody wanted to brain wash a top-grade assassin to add to their cause, Duo would have been the logical choice." 

Trowa agreed. "In addition to that, I was hardly the assassin, being trained more in espionage and infiltration of the enemy. Heero, although knowing assassination skills, rarely had to use them and Doctor J took him in early, training him to be a soldier, not an assassin. Duo on the other hand, from what we've heard, was already an expert at assassinations before he was an accomplished pilot. That fact alone would make him stand out instead of us." 

Heero nodded. "We have to be realistic. Each and every one of us is a walking time bomb because of what we can do. If Duo happens to stow all those assassination skills and something has messed with his mind to lower or even destroy his inhibitions..." Heero left the sentence unfinished but everyone knew the answer. 

Wufei clenched his fist. "I want the name of the bastard that did this..." 

The quiet contemplation that followed was interrupted with a burst from the speakers. "Quarry has entered V16753 air space but I lost them after they activated their cloaking system." 

"Shimatta," Wufei cursed under his breath. "Are you sure they entered the colony?" 

"98.9% positive judging from their speed and direction." 

Trowa settled further into his seat. "We're going in then. Continue to monitor all outbound spacecraft from the colony and make sure that each craft files a flight plan and produces a passenger list. If any leave without one, make sure we have a backup shuttle and personnel to track them to their destination. Also alert the spaceport personnel to be on the lookout for forged identity records and a young man with a braid. It may be futile but it'll still cover a base." 

"Acknowledged, o kio tsukete. Water out." 

* * *

The door to the spacecraft opened and a young man looked out. "This is my stop Nicko, from now on, everything will be done by me and you can find other means of contacting me for assignments. But the others are my problem - make no mistake about that. Ja~~" With that the lean figure leaped off and promptly disappeared into the surrounding shadows. 

From the open hatch, Nicklaren Kotamo stepped out and narrowed his eyes. Whispering quietly but with dangerous force, a sentence drifted on the wind. "On the contrary my dear Shinigami, the others are my problem but you are one as well... Don't forget who's running the show, Shi no Tenshi." 

* * *

Four pilots clambered into the small abandoned shack with worry and apprehension. While the others settled in, Heero immediately switched on the computer and scanned the inbound spacecraft lists from the spaceport. As suspected, a PS314 was not registered on the list. 

Quatre was the first to collapse on one of the four beds that occupied the small room that served as a bedroom/living room combined. "What do we do now?" 

Wufei shrugged tiredly. "There's not much we can do considering that Duo has the whole damned colony to hide in and he evidently knows it better than we do. Our best lead now would be to try and find out what exactly happened to Duo and know the opponent before we rush into this. We know Duo's here and hopefully we'll be able to stop him before he leaves, that should be enough for now..." 

"We should go talk to Hilde," Trowa replied. "The Preventers who interrogated her could have missed something that we might pick up..." 

Heero nodded. "That would be useful." Glancing at the clock, he said, "I say we grab some sleep, we'll need all that we can get; Hilde can wait for the four hours before sunrise." 

Quatre nodded and slumped down, closing his eyes he smiled slightly. "Oyasumi nasai minna... It's good to be back..." 

Soon Wufei and Trowa had drifted off and only Heero was left awake in the small room. Dimming the screen of his laptop, Heero continued, his brain never letting up for a second. _This is your fault. He looked out for you during the war - how many times did he bring you back from the edge of insanity? You should have returned the favor... Your fault..._

Heero grimaced. He knew but there wasn't anything he could do to turn back time and correct his mistakes. The only thing he could do now was to find Duo before he did something that he would really regret. 

Searching the records of V16753, Heero found the articles which contained bits and piece of Duo's life. _"... the most successful salvage business on the colony..."; "War hero returns to colony."_ Skimming through them, Heero found nothing that he didn't already know. Whatever personal life Duo had led had been carefully hidden from the media. 

Hacking into the colony official and secure documents, Heero's eyes widened for a bit. On the screen were the words: "Maxwell, Duo: File ended. Date of Death: 17th September AC 197. Cause: Inconclusive." 

Using his codes to access the Preventers database, Heero called up the date that Duo had supposedly disappeared from L2: 17th September AC 197. 

For all intents and purposes of the colony administration, Duo Maxwell had ceased to exist from the time he'd 'disappeared' from colony V16753. 

Leaning back, Heero turned his eyes to the ceiling and glared. _What the hell are you doing Duo? Who the hell is doing this to you?_

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~ 

  



	2. To Fall From Grace - Part II

  


* * *

**Disclaimer:** All characters and specifics of "Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing" are copyrighted Sunrise, Bandai and the Sotsu Agency. All rights reserved. This fanfiction is property of Shikami Yamino and is not intended for any monetary purpose nor an infringement of copyright laws. No one is to post/host/use any aspect of this fanfic without explicit permission from the author. 

* * *

**To Fall From Grace - Part II**   
--- by Shikami Yamino 

* * *

Quatre walked up the steps to the small house and pressed his fingers to the buzzer. Wufei, Heero and Trowa stopped behind and leaned casually against the porch railings, surveying every inch of their surroundings under hooded eyes. After a minute, the sounds of dead bolts being unlocked were heard and a large dark blue eye was seen in the crack that opened. "Dare?" 

Quatre smiled. "Hilde, it's me, Quatre." 

The eye widened and the door was hastily shut before the chain was taken off and a shocked Hilde swung the door open. "Quatre-kun?" 

"Aa... may we come in?" 

Hilde nodded as she glanced around Quatre to see the other boys on the porch. As they filed past her into the hallway, Wufei, the last, offered her a sympathetic look and patted her shoulder with a comforting hand. She offered him a wry smile and lead the way into the sitting room. "I suppose this is what I think it's about?" 

Quatre gave her a tight smile as he watched Heero and Trowa search the room with trained eyes. "Is it safe to talk?" 

Hilde nodded again as she sat. "The house is sensitized for bugs of any sort and automatically defuses them with electrical signals." 

"Does he know about this?" Wufei question was vague but everyone knew who he was talking about. 

"Iya," Hilde shook her head. "I had it installed after he left." 

Satisfied that the room was free of listening devices, Heero and Trowa shut all the doors and windows and then sat down. Trowa was the first to speak. "You don't seem surprised to see us..." 

A wan grin graced Hilde's face. "Should I be? I've been keeping up with the news; the Ambassadors were important people. After the Preventers interviewed me and I found out it was Duo, it was only a matter of time before the Preventers would bring you guys in. You're the only ones who would be able to handle Duo after all..." 

Quatre lowered his head. "I'm sorry about all of this Hilde..." 

Hilde laughed lightly. "For what Quatre-kun? There was nothing like that between Duo and me. We were friends - close friends but only friends. We were too similar, and in other ways too different to be compatible and we knew that..." 

Heero nodded in silent agreement. He knew how that felt - his own relationship with Relena was much the same but she had let go with good will after the Mariemeia incident. For that Heero was grateful. "Can you tell us what happened?" 

Hilde sighed. "I don't know what you're going to find from this that's different from what I told the others but... Duo returned here after he'd destroyed Deathscythe Hell with you guys and for a while he was happy. Business picked up and we were pretty busy in the day and sleep was always immediate when we came home. However Duo might have been in the day, he did have nightmares at night. I remember once, I'd gotten up for a glass of water and passing his door, heard him shouting incoherent things at the top of his voice. When I rushed in, he was already awake and told me not to worry." 

Glancing around at the intent faces, Hilde continued. "Pretty soon the nightmares came more often and after three weeks, Duo told me that he was going for a vacation at the small secluded cabin we'd bought in the mountains. He said he needed to sought things out, so I let him go. He rang every day to tell me that he was fine and he was back in a week. The nightmares seemed to have abated and he was more like his usual self." 

Hilde grimaced apologetically. "I really can't think of anything else to add. We went to Noin and Zechs' engagement party and you guys saw him there and life was pretty much normal until a week after Quatre's sister's wedding when he disappeared. He came back after two months away and at first it wasn't really clear what he'd been doing and he refused to tell me. Every time I pushed the issue, he'd turn the subject around until we were talking about something else completely - you guys know his way with words." 

Quatre smiled affectionately and inclined his head towards Hilde for her to continue. 

"But as the days passed he became more agitated and more occupied with other things. He often forgot jobs and forgot about everything and anything." 

Trowa cut in. "Was there any changes in his behavior? Apart from the agitation and preoccupation." 

Thoughtfully, Hilde replied, "Not many that I can remember but then he sometimes kept to his room and didn't come out even for meals. Once when I went in, he almost bit my head off and I remember taking one look at him and stepping out quickly. He hardly ever lost his temper, but him in a temper is not something that is pretty to look at." 

"You didn't mention this in the previous interview," Wufei noted. 

"I didn't remember until Trowa asked, there really was nothing so drastically wrong with Duo that it was worth taking conscious note of." 

"Think hard Hilde, was there anything in his room that seemed out of place?" Heero asked, keeping his eyes on Hilde's face. 

Hilde closed her eyes and her brow scrunched together in a frown. "Not that I can recall... All I remember was him writing on a slip of paper, nothing special..." 

Wufei pounced. "What was written?" When Hilde gave a shake of her head to indicate that she couldn't remember, Wufei pressed. "Please Hilde, it may be important..." 

Hilde shook her head. "I really don't - wait... there was something and I remember thinking it a bit weird before dismissing it - it wasn't anything really different from what he would write. He usually still signed his notes to me with "Shinigami" written instead of his name..." 

Quatre leaned forward. "What did it say?" 

Hilde looked back. "Shi no Tenshi." 

Raising an eyebrow, Heero repeated her words. "'Shi no tenshi'; Angel of Death... why Shi no Tenshi?" 

Hilde shrugged and rubbed her eyes which had begun to water. "I don't know... but a few weeks after, he left and I found his keys to the house on the kitchen table the morning after." 

Silence reigned for a while before Quatre asked, "Was anything different about the way Duo acted in between Noin and Zechs's engagement party and my sister's wedding? It may help us determine exactly how long Duo might have been affected." 

Hilde turned a questioning look on Quatre. "I wouldn't be able to tell you much... why didn't you ask Heero?" 

Trowa swiveled his head so he could look between a confused Hilde and a stunned Heero. "Nani?" 

Hilde frowned. "Duo went on vacation for a month in the two between Noin and Zech's engagement and Quatre's sister's wedding. He said he'd gone to L1 to visit Heero..." 

Heero raised both eyebrows as four pairs of eyes turned to gaze at him. "He was never at L1, I never saw him in between Zechs and Noin's engagement and Quatre's sister's wedding. We exchanged emails and he said that the business was going fine; that he was so busy he couldn't take time off to visit and that he was sorry." 

Wufei cursed. "Chikusho... Duo may have been influenced by the enemy longer than we thought then..." 

Trowa agreed. Turning to Hilde he said, "We need to determine how much longer... the secluded cabin that you said Duo went to, can you take us there?" 

Hilde nodded. "I was just about to leave... I'd planned to spend Christmas there and avoid all the fuss in the city." 

"Nobody's been there since Duo returned?" Quatre enquired. 

"Not that I know of. And Duo returned his key to it with his house keys." 

Heero snorted. "Minor technicality. Hilde, do you really think a locked house without keys would worry Duo if he wanted to get in?" 

Wufei stood up. "Why don't you get your things together Hilde and we'll accompany you..." 

Hilde nodded numbly and went to fetch her bags. 

* * *

Two cars pulled up at the front of a split-level log cabin overlooking a calm and serene lake while tall, wide pine trees bordered its surroundings. Stepping out, Hilde turned back to see the boys step out of their car and smiled. "This is it..." 

While Heero and Trowa scanned the premises with cool eyes, Wufei, having mellowed significantly in the past year, smiled at Hilde and replied, "Nice place... you have good taste..." 

Hilde blushed slightly as she walked up to the front door. "Actually, it was Duo who picked it out. He insisted that there must be somewhere to go for relaxation..." As her eyes began to water again, Quatre patted her shoulder in sympathy. 

Turning a watery smile at the blond, Hilde opened the door and let the four boys in. "The living room, kitchen, dining room and study is on this floor while there're two bedrooms upstairs, each with its own bath and a sun room." Gesturing up the stairs, Hilde was not surprised when Heero and Trowa immediately took to them. 

While Wufei walked off to poke around the downstairs rooms, Quatre accompanied Hilde to the kitchen where she immediately started the coffee machine. "Would you like some, Quatre-kun?" 

Quatre smiled. "That would be nice Hilde. I'm really sorry for all of this, if there was anybody else we could talk to..." he trailed off when Hilde pinned him with a stare. 

"I'm not complaining Quatre-kun... Whatever's gotten into Duo, he can use all the help he can get. And if I can help in him in any way, I'm not about to turn the opportunity down." Her voice quavered. "It just hurts sometimes to know that... that..." 

Quatre stared out the window, feeling his own eyes begin to sting. "I know Hilde..." 

* * *

Upstairs, Heero prowled through the room that Duo had so obviously occupied and looked for any clues as to the braided boy's whereabouts or condition. The room, decorated with black silk sheets and a pale, but stylish setting was bright and welcoming despite its morbid appearance. On the dresser, a brush still lay, clinging to long strands of chestnut hair and Heero's eyes softened briefly as he remembered the times that the same thing used to happen in the time they'd spent together during the war. Checking the dresser drawers, Heero found nothing but Duo's supply of boxers - black, of course - hair ties, socks and other unimportant things. Feeling around the drawers but not coming up with any that felt shallower, Heero moved onto the bedside table. 

Across the hallway, Trowa stood in the sun room, taking in his surroundings. The chairs were soft and comfortable, the bucket style perfect to lounge in for hours on end. Brightly lit, the room boasted a stereo system and a vid screen while a coffee table and entertainment set took up the rest of the room, creating a warm and homey feeling. 

Walking towards the coffee table, Trowa gazed at all the automobile magazines spread haphazardly on it with a few feminine ones as well and picked them up to thumb through them quickly. Not finding anything, Trowa moved onto the stereo. 

Finding nothing in the bedside table other than a small portion of Duo's CD collection, a pair of headphones and a small photo of all five of them taken right after the end of the war, Heero gave the room another once over then moved onto the bathroom. Immediately walking towards the small vanity unit, Heero stopped as he walked past the shower and looked in. Nothing but Duo's favorite brand of shampoos and conditioners and a bar of soap. Continuing to the vanity, Heero found nothing on the top except for a half empty glass of water. Opening the drawers, Heero's eyes narrowed. 

In the top one, there wasn't anything except supplies of hair care products and other necessities. However in the bottom one, empty and unopened packets of unmarked pills and bottles lay in a scattered fashion. Picking them up carefully, Heero found the labeled ones to be painkillers, though not strong ones, and put them back carefully. The pills in the other bottles were white and flat, a tablet of some indiscriminate kind. Shaking a few out on his hand, Heero brought them up to his nose and sniffed. Instantly, he recognized the distinctive smell of sleeping pills and frowned. Why wouldn't the bottle be labeled? 

Trowa finished his search of the electronic units and was just moving off towards one of the rooms when a faint blinking caught his attention. Turning and crouching by the power point that led to the stereo, Trowa's eyes lit on the small black round disk that was attached to the wall and slowly flashing a small light in its center next to a small blank display screen. A thin black wire led out from the underside and emerald eyes followed it until it disappeared into the back of the television set, another disappeared into the wall just under the device. Probing soft but firm fingers under the TV, Trowa's eyes widened as they encountered a large wad of something molded to the underside of the TV. 

With calm body but a bewildered look, Trowa leaned closer to the device and instantly recognized the small holes in which sound traveled. Just as he was about to reach for the device, Trowa's head snapped up at the sound of Hilde's voice on the staircase. "Heero-kun, Trowa-kun, the coffee's ready." 

At once, the small light ended its flashing and two numbers appeared on the display. As they began to count down, Trowa sprinted down the stairs and grabbed a stunned Hilde by the arm before dragging her with him towards the front door. As he ran, Trowa yelled at the top of his voice, "Twenty seconds to get out of the house. Move!!" 

Hearing the urgency in Trowa's voice, Quatre raced from the kitchen and towards the front door where he met with Trowa. Pushing Hilde into Quatre's arms, Trowa sent the blond on his way out the door before rushing towards the study. "Wufei, we need to leave now! There's a bomb in the house." 

Wufei looked up at Trowa's strained voice and seeing the seriousness of the emerald eyes, nodded before swiping a diskette off the desk and following him out. As the two ran out the door, Wufei turned back. "Heero?" 

Trowa stopped and was about to turn back when Wufei said, "No, I'll get him. Get Quatre and Hilde out of here." 

Racing back inside, Wufei sprinted up the stairs and into Duo's bedroom. "Heero!! We need to get out of the house now!" Heero stood up from his silent contemplation of the pills and grabbed some before stuffing them all into his pockets. The urgency in Wufei's voice could not be avoided and he ran into the Chinese boy as they met in Duo's room. Wufei's voice was strained. "There's no time to go back out the front way." 

Heero nodded, trusting Wufei's words and kicked out the glass on the picture windows that occupied one wall. Taking a running leap, both boys sailed out of the second story window and rolled as they dropped, lessening the impact before coming up running. Just as they started running, a large and loud explosion rocked the surrounding areas and knocked both of them off their feet. Falling and covering their heads, both waited until the debris had stopped falling on them and then raised their heads. What was a minute before an elegant and fully furnished log cabin was now a pile of rubble amidst an area that was serene and calm. 

As they sat up, Quatre ran up to them with Trowa and Hilde in tow. "Are you two okay?" 

Wufei grunted. "Fine, just got the wind knock out of me..." He fixed his gaze on Trowa, "What was that?" 

"Sound activated time bomb. I found the device attached to a large wad of C-8 under the TV. The other wire led into the wall and I presume that there were more C-8 in the house judging from the damage. Hilde's voice on the staircase triggered the detonation device." 

Heero's eyes narrowed as he got to his feet. Flicking a glance at Hilde, Heero asked, "Find anything?" 

Trowa gave a negative shake of his head. "Just the bomb." 

Wufei took out the diskette. "The only thing in the study, fallen between the desk and the bookshelf." 

Heero reached for his own find. "Sleeping pills with a very faint tint of something added. I can't identify what. Unlabelled." Turning to Hilde, he asked, "Did Duo take sleeping pills?" 

Hilde nodded, wide eyed. "He usually did when the nightmares were here but I'd never seen them. He always went to the drugstore to buy them himself, told me he didn't want to bother me with his problems." 

Wufei narrowed his eyes as he stared at Hilde. Then as they walked back to the cars, he reached for the communit and fiddling with the frequencies, Wufei spoke. "Water, I need to be put through to the boss, now." 

The small vid screen flickered to life and Sally's face appeared. "She's right here, this is a secured line." 

Lady Une's face replaced Sally's and the worry on the older woman's face could not be mistaken. "What do you have for me Dragon?" 

In terse words, Wufei related the events of the day. "Duo might have been influenced by the enemy for longer than we thought but we have yet to confirm how long. Hilde is a priority witness and there has been an attempt on her life already. I need a team of demolition experts here to sought through the rubble, you can home in on my location and I want a private shuttle piloted by someone trustworthy to take Hilde to the Preventers headquarters, she's not safe here." 

Lady Une agreed. "Is there anything else you need?" 

Heero spoke up. "We need a chemical analyzing kit along with a list of all plastique stockers on L2, especially of C-8." 

"Acknowledged. Equipment will be forwarded to you ASAP at the spaceport. Hilde will leave at twenty hundred hours, that'll give you some more time. Is that all?" 

Quatre gave a terse nod. "All that we can think of at the moment." 

"Then good luck and keep me informed." With that the Lady's face disappeared. 

Stepping up to the car, the four pilots placed a shell-shocked Hilde in the middle of the back seat and pulled out of the clearing. 

In the car, silent tension filled the atmosphere as all five occupants were lost in their thoughts. Wufei, who was driving, took a look at Hilde's ashen face in the rearview and sighed. "Hilde, daijoubu desu ka?" 

Hilde looked up as the first of the tears broke from her eyes. "Duo... he... why...?" 

Heero, in the passenger seat, replied, "We don't know if it is Duo who put the bomb there. It could be that he didn't even know about it and the person behind all this put it there because you were the only one to know of Duo's whereabouts in the past year." 

"That's right," Quatre added. "If someone thought that you'd bring people to come and snoop around the cabin and they did something to Duo then, they probably would need to get rid of the evidence and the people involved." 

Trowa stared out the window as he commented, "What I want to know is why the sleeping pills are unlabelled if they were bought from a drug store." 

Heero took the bottle from his pocket and shook a few tablets out to pass to Quatre and Trowa behind him. Both took a sniff and conferred with their eyes. Finally Quatre confirmed Heero's suspicions. "The smell is of the normal sedatives but there is a hint of something extra that isn't really detectable." 

Heero glared out the windshield of the car. "I thought so... We're going to have to wait until the chemical analyzing kit gets here before making a full analysis though." 

Wufei was thoughtful. "So you think that there may be traces of mind-inducing chemicals in the sleeping tablets." 

Heero made a sound of affirmation before turning to Hilde. "Hilde, where did Duo get the sleeping pills?" 

Hilde frowned in concentration before answering. "He usually got them from the drug store on the corner of Twenty-seventh and Pike - it's in the sleazier part of town. He said the owner was a friend of his and the sleeping pills from there were usually stronger than the regulation standards." 

Quatre grimaced. "This friend was obviously more interested in money then..." 

Wufei pulled the disk from his pocket and held it up. "Do you have any idea what this might contain Hilde?" 

Hilde took the disk from him and turned it over in her hands. "It's just like any other disk in the house. I wouldn't know how many identical ones we have. This is probably one of the ones Duo used for personal stuff." 

Heero put out his hand and was given the disk as he reached for his laptop under the seat. Switching it on and putting the disk in, rapid keyboard clacks followed before Heero spoke. "There are a number of blocks on this thing. Whatever Duo had on here, he wanted to keep hidden. I got past the first seven, the other five I can't hack until we get back to the shack because I'll need a link up." 

Quatre gazed out at the artificial sun. "Well it's almost sunset, why don't we go and find some food before sending Hilde to the spaceport? There isn't much we can do until then..." 

* * *

Getting back to the shack, the four pilots sat as they began to discuss the events of the day. After a lot of questions and more questions, Wufei said, "I think we need to update the boss on this." 

Trowa silently agreed and added, "I also want to know if they've made any progress with the militia - Do we know who's leading?" 

Soon, all four were clustered around the vid screen as Wufei keyed the command for the Preventers headquarters. When an unfamiliar but senior officer looked up, Wufei said in a voice that brooked no arguments, "We need a secure line to the boss immediately, code red." 

The officer frowned at the blurred faces of the group of young men on the other end, suspicion in his eyes. "I'll need your names boys, the boss is very busy at the moment." 

Heero glared, though he knew the other couldn't see him properly. "Tell the boss Dragon, Falcon, Lynx and Wolf need to speak with her and Water *now*." 

The officer looked startled and then nervous before giving a wavery salute. "Right away sirs." 

Wufei smiled slightly as the screen whited out with static. "I hate relatively senior officers who are new to the com station." 

Heero grinned wolfishly and Trowa smirked while Quatre smothered a laugh. 

Soon, Lady Une's face appeared on the screen, Sally beside her. "You boys have had an eventful day. I didn't want to say too much before but now I'd like everything. In detail." 

Taking the initiative, Quatre began the full report. "We talked to Hilde and there were some things that she failed to remember at the time of the interview. Duo had been acting strangely ever since Zechs and Noin's engagement party. He 'vacationed' to L1 for a month, supposedly to visit Heero but never showed up. We think that Duo may have been influenced before that though." 

Lady Une's face was tight. "How so?" 

Trowa answered. "We checked the premises of the cabin that Duo spent a week in and found bottles of unlabelled sleeping pills with a hint of something added. We think there may have been mind-inducing chemicals laced in the sedative." 

Sally frowned. "How can that be? He would have smelt it as you did." 

Heero shook his head. "Apparently the supplier he used was an old friend whose pills were stronger than standard regulation. The smell of the sedative is distinctly stronger and the other a very slight odor you wouldn't notice unless you were completely focused." 

Stiffening, Sally narrowed her eyes. "That's illegal... Did you get the name of the supplier?" 

"No name, but we know where his store is. We're going to put the squeeze on him tomorrow and see if he can tell us anything." 

Lady Une inclined her head in approval. "We'll wait until you're done with him to apprehend him then... Anything else?" 

"Not a lot, but we also found a diskette in the study of the cabin. It's heavily protected but we should be able to get past it by tomorrow," Heero confirmed. 

"One more thing," Trowa added. "Does the title 'Shi no Tenshi' mean anything to you?" 

"'Shi no Tenshi'?" Sally and Lady Une looked at each other. "No..." 

"Apparently he was writing that on a slip of paper when Hilde walked in on him. He lost his temper." 

Sally raised an eyebrow. "He lost his temper?" 

"Okay, we'll keep an eye on it," Lady Une sighed. 

"Has the demolition team turned up anything at the site?" Quatre wanted to know. 

Sally shook her head. "Dead end. They found the detonation device and the detonators. Tracing them proved easy but it was a dummy coorporation with no ties to any major company or individual." 

Scowling, Wufei asked, "Has either Fire or Wind gotten back with any more information about the militia?" 

Lady Une made a negative motion. "They haven't checked in for two days, I'm presuming that they'll have something by the time they do check in." 

Wufei sighed. "Please have Water inform us of any progress Fire and Wind make." 

"Ryoukai..." Sally returned. 

Lady Une managed a small smile. "Check in as soon as you make any progress. Take care." 

They all returned small smiles. "Out." 

The vid screen clicked off and the four sat in quiet contemplation for a while before Quatre stood up. "We'd better turn in, Trowa and I will go and visit the drug store first thing in the morning, see if we can dig up anything. Heero, you and Wufei can stay here to analyze the pills and crack the codes. That okay with everyone?" 

The rest nodded and Quatre yawned before he gave them a tired smile. "I guess I'm not used to having so much excitement in one day after the Mariemeia incident. Oyasumi..." 

Turning in, none of the boys slept easily, each laying awake long into the night to ponder exactly where this situation was going to take them, and how much it would take out of them before everything could be put to rights. 

* * *

Heads down but eyes darting around their surroundings recording everything, Quatre and Trowa walked through the sleazier parts of town, hands in jacket pockets. The streets were littered and unwashed. Graffiti stained the walls with the various names of street gangs that still operated in the area while prostitutes and beggers lined the walls on the sidewalk, trailing the two with their eyes. 

Trowa's face was impassive as he looked around. The scene wasn't exactly unfamiliar to him and he knew what could happen on streets like these if you had no viable means to defend yourself. Fingering the small gun in his pocket, Trowa gazed at Quatre from under his bangs and managed a smile as he saw the discomfort on the smaller boy's face. 

Quatre surreptitiously glanced around as he kept walking. While he knew that towns like this obviously existed, he hadn't really experienced the feeling of walking in one. Passing the final intersection, he nodded to Trowa who promptly walked away from him towards the alleyway that separated the store from the next lot. 

Walking in the front, Quatre heard the bell chime as he browsed around the shelves, all the while keeping an eye on the counter where a pock-faced man smiled at him. "Well, it's not often I get a stranger around these parts. How may I help you?" 

Smiling back at the man, Quatre walked up to the counter. "I'm looking for some sleeping pills and I was wondering if you stocked any..." 

The man walked out from behind the counter. "Can't get the sleepies huh? Well I have something that'll fix you right up." Making his way towards one of the far shelves, he picked up a bottle and passed it to Quatre. "These should do you fine." 

Quatre glanced at the bottle for longer than necessary because at one glance, he knew that these were not the extra strength ones. "Is there anything stronger? I'm really suffering from serious insomnia at the moment..." 

A suspicious light came into the other man's eyes but he continued smiling. "Well you could try these or these," pointing to a few more bottles on the shelf. 

As Quatre took them down one by one to study them, he casually asked, "So you work here?" 

The man laughed. "Work? Naw, can't pay anyone enough to work here, I own the joint, Sam Daunte's the name." 

"Must be tough business then," Quatre commented. 

Sam shrugged. "Not really, got a couple of loyal customers who won't go anywhere else for their medication. Them's the ones that keep me going." 

Quatre looked up and smiled. "I know... I happen to know one of your regulars, told me I could find the stronger stuff here without any fuss if I added his name." 

"Who might that be, stranger?" Sam's body was suddenly filled with tension. 

Fingering the device in his pocket and drawing his hand out with the device in his fingers before leaving it neatly clipped on Sam's belt loop, Quatre patted the larger man on the back. "Oh I'm sure you know him quite well. Name's Duo Maxwell." 

* * *

Slipping into the alleyway, Trowa quickly found the drugstore's fusebox. With a few deft twists of his fingers, he loosened the wires that connected the communication wires to the electricity, rendering it incapable of giving anything but static. Taking out a small device, Trowa clipped it to the main power cable, ensuring that the power would not be cut off when he sliced the cable. Finding the backup generator wires, Trowa sliced both it and the main cable before reconnecting the two together, causing the drugstore to run on the backup generator which he estimated would last for approximately ten minutes. Enough for what he and Quatre had hoped to accomplish. 

Just as he returned the device to his pocket and was standing up, his gaze was drawn to a dark figure loping down the shadowed alleyway towards him. Straining to see who it was despite the shadows that surrounded the figure, Trowa's mind drew a blank when he heard the voice. 

"Oi Trowa-man! Long time no see! What brings you to ol' L2?" 

Straightening and pulling his gun in the same motion, Trowa already had his sights on the figure as it approached and the shadows melted away to reveal the very person he'd come to find. The figure stopped as it caught sight of the gun and both hands were drawn up in a gesture of defeat. "Whoa, hey man what's that for? Can't a guy say hello to his friend without having a gun pulled on him? Man, Heero's starting to rub off on you." 

Trowa's eyes narrowed but his hand didn't waver. "Duo..." 

Violet eyes gazed at him with laughter in their depths and the braided boy gave a small bow. "The one and only. Now Trowa, you think you can put the gun down? It's making me a bit nervous." 

Trowa said nothing. This Duo was no different than the one he'd left at Quatre's sister's wedding six months ago. Still the same attitude, the same voice, the same laughter. 

"Oi, Trowa! C'mon man, you're starting to scare me here... this attitude I'd expect from Heero, not you." Duo moved closer still with his hands up in a placating gesture, "It's me, you know. Your old pal, Duo Maxwell, recognize me without the priest's outfit?" 

"Where have you been Duo?" Trowa refused to remove his gun. 

Duo laughed and gave an eloquent shrug. "Oh, here and there, basically bumming around and getting a taste of the life we didn't get. How 'bout you?" 

"Where's Hilde?" 

Duo frowned. "Hilde? I don't know... back at the house I s'pose. I haven't really been back. Just needed a taste of freedom I guess." He grinned and dropped his hands. "What is this, Twenty questions? Hey, are the others with you? I would really love to see them... Haven't seen them in so - " 

Trowa didn't hear anymore. The pain came quick and sharp at his abdomen and in less than a second. Then a hand twisted his gun arm behind his back and a foot connected with the small of his back, driving the breath out of him so he doubled over, both in pain and out of breath. At once, he was lying on his side on the floor of the alley with his gun just out of reach of his left arm while his right was twisted behind his back at a dangerous angle. The hilt of a switchblade protruded from the right side of his stomach. Almost face down, every movement he made caused the blade to slice inside him and pain ripped at him, blood pooling slowly on the ground around him, quickly soaking into his jacket. 

Helpless, Trowa gazed up into the violet eyes that looked right back at him and saw what he hadn't seen a minute ago when the boy had walked up to him. There was a wild light in the violet eyes now, creating an insane look that completely changed the mischievous face of the boy who had greeted him so familiarly a moment ago. The lips were pulled into a vicious smirk and a quiet voice penetrated his thoughts. "You've mellowed Trowa. You shouldn't have hesitated. This is just a warning. If you - any of you - come after me again, I won't be the one to change aim as I did today. Tell the others, Shi no Tenshi does not appreciate tails or interferers." 

With that, Trowa felt his body lifted and before he could do anything, felt the butt of a gun connect with his head and everything went black. 

* * *

Sam stiffened and his eyes widened as they stared at the blond. "I... I - I don't know a Duo Maxwell, you must be mistaken..." 

Quatre frowned. "Really? I was sure you were the one he told me to see..." 

The larger man began to back up slowly as his eyes darted from side to side to seek an exit. "You must have the wrong person, I - I've never known a Duo Maxwell..." 

Quatre smiled again. "I'm afraid that's the wrong answer, would you care to try again?" 

Sam swallowed nervously. "Who are you? What do you want?" 

"I just want some information, that's all... Nothing will happen if you cooperate." When Sam said nothing, Quatre continued. "When was the last time Duo Maxwell was in here?" 

"I - I can't tell you..." Sam stuttered 

Quatre sighed. He really hadn't wanted to do this but Duo was more important right now than his inhibitions and he knew that show and tell should be done in that order. Pulling out his gun, he asked sweetly, "Would this help convince you?" 

Sam eyed the gun and sat down heavily on a chair nearby. "He was last in here six months ago." 

"What did he buy?" 

"The... the strong stuff you were telling me about... He said he ran out." 

"Where do you get the strong stuff? Who is your supplier?" Quatre demanded. 

Sam shook his head frantically. "I don't know! The guy contacted me by phone and his vid screen wasn't activated. He said that when Duo came in, I was to give him one of the bottles that would arrive at the back door in an envelope along with half the money and the other half would come when I'd finished the job. I really don't know his name!" 

"Really? Think hard Sam Daunte." 

Sam put his head in his hands. "I don't know... I called him Nicko but I don't know anything else, honest!" 

"What was in the pills?" 

"I really don't know! They were left on my doorstep with nothing but the money, not even a label!" 

Just then a muted thud came from the back door and Quatre looked up, noting that Trowa should have entered by now but was no where in sight. Getting a bad feeling, and with a little stab of pain in his uchuu no kokoro, Quatre made his way towards the back door and cast a single glance at Sam still in the chair before he pushed his way out. 

What greeted him was a field of red and he had to blink before his brain registered what he saw. "Oh God, Trowa!" Throwing himself next to the unconscious body, Quatre took in the body sprawled on his back and the hilt of a blade protruding from the lower torso. Putting his gun in his pocket, Quatre shrugged off his jacket and wadded it up before carefully wrapping it around the switchblade. Applying pressure, Quatre yanked the blade out and immediately pressed his jacket over the open wound, noting that it had been slightly aggravated but was still a clean wound. Retracting and dropping the knife into his pocket, Quatre reached up a bloody hand to Trowa's face and patted it. "Trowa! Trowa wake up!" 

Trowa groaned in pain as emerald eyes slit open and fixed groggily on the blond. "Quatre?" 

Quatre's face split into a smile. "You're okay... Yokatta... We have to get you out of here..." 

"... The owner?" 

"I've got the information we needed. The tracking device has been planted so he won't get very far. Who did this?" 

Trowa tried to speak but clenched his teeth as another pain spasm gripped him. 

Unzipping Trowa's jacket and carefully extracting it from under the body, Quatre wrapped it tightly around Trowa's abdomen. "No don't talk, we have to get you fixed up. Can you make it to the jeep?" 

Trowa nodded weakly and with Quatre's help, pulled himself up so that he was leaning heavily on the smaller boy but still standing. Slowly, the two turned the corner to find the jeep that they had parked there earlier and with gentle hands, Quatre laid Trowa out in the backseat before seating himself behind the wheel. Gunning the engine, Quatre raced out, trying not to drive over any rough road that would jarr his patient in the back. 

Pulling out his communit, Quatre spoke into it. "This is Wolf, anyone copy?" 

Heero's voice answered. "Falcon here. What's going on?" 

"We've got the info and we're coming back. Lynx is in bad shape - looks like he got knifed. The tracking device has been planted on the quarry so the signal only needs to be transmitted to the boss." 

Heero hesitated a moment before replying, "Understood, we'll be ready." 

* * *

Pulling the jeep into its parking space next to the car, Quatre wasn't surprised when both Heero and Wufei raced out. As Heero and Wufei helped Trowa out of the car, the former asked, "What happened?" 

Quatre shrugged as he ran ahead to keep open the door and to ready the bed. "I don't know. I was inside with the owner when I heard a thud outside. I came out and found him like this lying on the ground in a puddle of blood with this stuck in him." He pulled out the switchblade and placed it on the table as the others laid Trowa on the bed. 

Heero removed the soaked jacket and examined the wound. "Not as bad as you may think, but I'll have to stitch this up now. I'll need the first aid kit, some water and towels." Wufei went off in search of the items while Quatre went to change out of his own blood soaked clothes. 

Carefully peeling away Trowa's turtle neck, Heero cleaned the wound with water while Wufei prepared a syringe of painkillers. Injecting the serum and watching Trowa slip into unconsciousness, Wufei nodded to Heero who replaced the towel and prepared the needle. As he worked, Quatre came back in and Wufei asked, "Did you see who did it?" 

Quatre shook his head. "Whoever did it was gone by the time I got out there. The owner?" 

"Preventers on the police force apprehended him a few minutes ago." 

Quatre pursed his lips and turned towards the work bench where four laptops were setup along with a strange looking kit of chemicals and microscopes. "Find anything?" 

Heero made an impatient noise. "The last block is proving the hardest to crack. I'm going to need a few more hours to work on it." 

Waiting a few moments as all three pairs of eyes were centered on Heero deftly stitching the wound together, Wufei started his own report. "From what I've found, the pills contained the normal sedatives with a hint of mild tranquilizers which accounts for the extra strength in it. But the interesting thing is it also boasts a fairly substantial amount of Delora7.9." 

"Delora7.9?" Quatre repeated with a questioning look. 

"It's a new substance out on the black market that is still in beta testing stages. Short dosages create agitation and uncharacteristic displays of violence in the subject while in prolonged doses, it lowers inhibitions, enhances performance and slows the production of emotional hormones. It also contains hallucinogenic components while inducing a more advanced form of schizophrenia on the subject, allowing the subject to become susceptible to suggestive stimuli and keep hearing them in their subconscious without showing any signs of it physically." 

Quatre sighed as Heero finished up with Trowa. "How do people come up with this stuff?" 

Wufei shrugged. "It sure packs a punch, that's all I can say... And if Duo's been taking this stuff since that trip to the cabin in approximately February to March..." 

"He's had a long period of exposure to it..." Quatre finished. 

Heero returned from washing his hands and gestured to Trowa. "He's probably going to wake up in a while, considering our bodies are more tolerant against pain killers, but we might as well put the time to good use." Sitting down at the computer, Heero continued typing while asking, "So what are its characteristics on the subject?" 

Wufei replied, "Delora7.9 apparently acts like any other drug with an addictive component although after the first two to three months, the subject only needs a small dose every two or three weeks to keep up the addiction." 

"How does the subject come off it?" Quatre wanted to know. 

Wufei's voice became strained. "Even in beta testing stages, the survival rate for those coming off D-7, as it's affectionately known, is very small. The majority never survive the sweating out part." 

Heero cursed. "Kuso... survivial rate? Side effects?" 

"At this stage only 2.6% of the numbers who have tried to come off D-7 have survived and if one survives the sweating out, there is no permanent damage to the brain although temporary memory loss of the period in which the subject was under the influence of D-7 does occur." 

Quatre's voice was pained. "Do they know the circumstances with which the subjects may survive?" 

"Inconclusive at this point in time." 

Trying to keep back the tears that were threatening to fall, Quatre looked away. "So what you're saying is that even if we get Duo back, we might lose him anyway..." 

Wufei nodded mutely. 

Heero's hands paused and in a quiet and deadly voice said, "If Duo dies, so does every single person on the planet and colonies that was ever involved with the people who did this to him." 

A tired and deep voice interrupted their thoughts. "I'll second that..." 

They all turned at the sound of that voice and Quatre cried, "Trowa! You're awake, you feeling okay?" 

As they moved toward Trowa's bed, he smiled slightly. "I'm find Quatre, don't worry. Not in the best of shape but I'll live..." 

Wufei asked, "How long have you been awake?" 

Trowa fixed him with an emerald stare. "Long enough..." 

Heero nodded an acknowledgment before asking, "So who did this piece of work? Couldn't have been really serious; they missed all the vital organs." 

Voice grave, Trowa replied, "He wasn't serious and I was careless... this was more a warning than much of anything else..." 

"Masaka... you mean...?" Wufei's eyes widened. 

Making an affirmative noise, Trowa winced in the slight pain as he moved so that he was sitting up. "I saw Duo..." 

Silence reigned for a while as the boys took in this information. Finally Heero asked in a strained voice, "How is he?" 

"That's the interesting thing, he didn't seem at all changed when he first walked up to me but it was in the middle of the conversation when I was just beginning to doubt that he made his move." Trowa made an abstract motion towards the bloody switchblade that lay on the table and continued. "He was moving faster than I'd ever seen and told me that this was just a warning to say 'Stop interferring'..." 

"Anything else you remember?" Quatre prompted. 

"Aa... We were right, he's now calling himself Shi no Tenshi..." 

Quatre let out a deep breath and looked away as all eyes turned to him in silent question. A few moments passed before Quatre spoke up. "I didn't find much. Sam - the owner - as expected, first denied knowing Duo but after I convinced him that he did, said that Duo last visited there six months ago when he ran out of the pills. He didn't know where they came from, only that a man contacted him by phone with the vid screen off ,saying that when Duo came in, he was to give him the bottle that was unmarked. The bottles of pills arrived on the back doorstep with an envelope containing half the money that he was supposed to get for the job, the other half would be coming after he finished the job." 

Wufei crossed his arms. "Did he provide a name?" 

"He said the man told him his name was Nicko but he didn't know if it was a real name..." 

Heero stood up and walked back to his computer. "It's a start anyway..." 

Making his way to the kitchen, Quatre called over his shoulder, "I'll go fix something to eat. Trowa, you'd better lie down for a while longer, you're not strong enough to get out yet, I'll fix you a tray." 

Trowa inclined his head with a little smile at the blond. "Arigato..." 

Wufei gave Trowa a quick smile before going to join Heero. 

* * *

By evening, Trowa was up and walking about slowly, and the boys were having another conversation with Lady Une. 

"So you've confirmed that the added chemical is the Delora7.9?" 

Wufei replied, "99.2% confirmed." 

The Lady's lips firmed. "And the quarry is still on the colony...?" 

"I can confirm that as of this morning..." Trowa's wry voice answered. 

Lady Une gave him a sympathetic look. "If you want, I can get some doctors..." 

Trowa shook his head. "Iya, it won't be necessary. The less people know we're here, the better. And we've got a pretty efficient medical crew here nonetheless. I'm fine..." 

"Do you need anything else?" 

"I'll need a micro-H3 component chip before I can break through the final block on the disk," Heero requested. 

"I'll have Water forward it to V16753 as soon as possible. And I'll see what I can find out about this 'Nicko' and Shi no Tenshi... Please be careful..." 

Wufei gave their boss a little smile. "We'll do our best. Out." 

* * *

In a darkened building, a young man sat in the darkness in front of a glowing laptop screen. The deep voice drifted into the darkness as the young man grinned. 

"You know you won't take my advice, I know you won't take my advice. But this just makes everything more fun. Let's see how long you can last against me. And let's see if you can protect this pretty face..." A small laugh accompanied the comment. "I know you'd never forgive yourself if you let this one slip through your grasp and towards Death, Heero... I'll be waiting minna, don't be too long..." 

On the screen, a smiling girl with azure eyes and dark blonde hair looked out, her long hair tied back with a dark ribbon while a suit of white and beige adorned her petite body. 

Under the picture, a flashing line of bold red letters read: 

'TARGET SELECTED.' 

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~ 

  



	3. To Fall From Grace - Part III

  


* * *

**Disclaimer:** All characters and specifics of "Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing" are copyrighted Sunrise, Bandai and the Sotsu Agency. All rights reserved. This fanfiction is property of Shikami Yamino and is not intended for any monetary purpose nor an infringement of copyright laws. No one is to post/host/use any aspect of this fanfic without explicit permission from the author. 

* * *

**To Fall From Grace - Part III**   
--- by Shikami Yamino 

* * *

After a day of futile data searches and silent contemplation, all four pilots in the small abandoned shack were strumming with tension and itching for action. Trowa was already up and about without hindrance. And although sudden movements still pulled at his stitches, it was nothing he hadn't lived with before. 

Heero often sat in front of the laptop staring at the glowing screen but seeing nothing, lost in his own thoughts. Then there were the times he would turn the data disk over and over in his hands with a grim scowl on his face, glaring at the one code he wouldn't be able to crack until the micro-H3 component arrived. 

Wufei prowled around the house, restless and even the frequent communications between himself and Sally did not seem to calm him down when he learned that neither Noin nor Zechs had signed in for four days. 

Only Quatre seemed at all calm during the wait, continuing to care for Trowa's injury while providing meals at the appropriate intervals and soothing words when one or another of his friends had lost their patience. Normally, if this had been a normal mission, this never would have happened. But this mission was too personal for their taste and Duo had already proved that he was no longer the light-hearted boy they had so admired a year ago. 

Mid-morning of the day after, an email arrived in Heero's mailbox and was immediately opened to reveal its contents. Heero's eyes narrowed as he scanned the neat lines. "The micro-H3's arrived at the spaceport, one of us is to pick it up and exchange the reports of our findings with the correspondent. Another man has also been sent with extra artillery just in case. The boss doesn't want anything else to happen to us on this mission, she suggests that we pick up the packages separately." 

Trowa inclined his head. "Wise choice..." 

Wufei agreed. "And we could use the extra ammo..." 

Quatre on the other hand was worried about the dark frown that still sat upon Heero's brow. "Heero? Anything else?" 

"Aa... An attempt was made on Minister Lotar's life last night. Concentrated Nightshade essence was found in the Minister's beverage at the evening meal." 

A sharp intake of breath came from Quatre. "They found it?" 

A nod. "Aa. It wasn't heavily masked and the butler was able to smell the distinctive wrongness of the beverage even if he didn't know what it was. They suspect Duo..." 

Wufei shrugged, looking pained. "If it was really Nightshade, then it fits Duo's profile, there would really be no way of knowing for sure unless we had Duo here for interrogation..." 

Trowa looked deep in thought. "Nightshade... Nightshade can be heavily masked, especially in strong beverages such as coffee, why wouldn't Duo mask the flavor...?" 

Heero turned. "He's playing with us. Lotar may be a Minister, but unofficially he has hardly any political standing in the way of things, in other words a waste of time to assassinate..." 

Gritting his teeth, Wufei asked, "What're our orders?" 

"Two of us are to interview the Minister, appointments have been set for us as journalists to visit Lotar at fourteen thirty. The other two are to go to the spaceport and get the packages. Correspondents will be waiting at the checkpoints 3 and 9 at fifteen hundred." 

"Heero and I can go to the interview, I'm in no position to do anything that might endanger the mission," Trowa announced, gesturing down at his still heavily bandaged abdomen. 

"Quatre and I can go to the spaceport then..." Wufei nodded. 

Soon, plans were made and the pilots set out. 

* * *

After a period of silence in the car, Quatre spoke. "Why don't you get the ammo? I'll be fine with the H3 chip." 

Wufei replied, "Are you sure?" 

Quatre nodded. "Aa, it's easier for you anyway, not many of the Preventers know the rest of us yet. And you can take the jeep back, I'll take a cab then walk home." 

Wufei cast a glance at the pensive face of Quatre and sighed. "Fine..." A moment of silence and then Wufei asked, "Quatre, are you okay?" 

Quatre turned a startled face. "Nani?" 

"You look unsettled. Is something wrong?" 

"Nan demo nai..." Quatre shook his head with a slight smile. "I guess it's just the familiarity of this yet the strangeness..." 

Wufei cocked his head. "How so?" 

Quatre shrugged. "The little things I guess... The silences - there never would have been silences in the house if Duo was - " 

Quatre trailed off and Wufei's eyes softened, becoming slightly pained. He himself had also felt the strangeness of being together with his fellow pilots and yet missing the loud but somewhat soothing sound of happy laughter. "Aa... Wakatta..." 

* * *

Quatre wandered through the crowded spaceport with a critical eye as he made his way towards checkpoint 9 on the tenth floor. The full report hidden snugly in an inside pocket of his jacket, Quatre scanned the area until he spotted a figure casually leaning against the checkpoint cubicle. Making his way over, Quatre saw the man's eyes fix on him and knew that his guess had been right. 

Clearing his throat, Quatre started the spiel. "Excuse me, do you happen to have the time?" 

Hard golden eyes fixed on him and the expected answer came as the man checked his watch. "It's three in the afternoon, sir. Is there anything else you would like?" The left hand reached into the man's back pocket and Quatre dropped the act, walking towards him so that he was standing next to him, as if casually talking. 

"Wolf, here for the H3." 

The man extracted a small device with a scanning screen and held it out to Quatre who immediately pressed his thumb against the lit up green pad. As the thumbprint registered and an OK sign flashed out, the man grinned slightly and reached into his other pocket to reveal the micro-H3 component. 

Quatre reached for his own disk and as the two switched, the man said, "The boss says to be careful." Quatre smiled before he walked away, tucking the small chip into its padded bag and replacing it in his jacket. 

* * *

Stepping out of the cab, Quatre noted that the sun was setting and quickly paid the driver before stepping out a good thirty minutes from the abandoned shack at the nearest town. Zipping up his jacket, Quatre lowered his head and began walking towards home. 

After ten minutes, darkness came fast and Quatre gazed around him discomfort before trudging on with his hands in his jacket pockets. Home for the moment was not far away and while it wasn't much it still brought back pleasant memories of the occasional times of remedial peace that they had spent together during the war, just him and his friends. 

This time was hardly different, fighting together for the same reasons, pooling ideas and resources, helping each other. A cohesive, united and much stronger force than they would be if they worked alone. But there was one vital part missing, like a puzzle that had lost one piece, the familiar feeling that came from being with his fellow pilots was marred by the feeling that he was missing something. And he knew exactly what that piece looked like. 

A pair of laughing violet eyes, wide full lips always pulled in that incessant grin and the deep chestnut braid highlighted with honey that was its owner's pride and joy. 

That piece had a name too... 

Duo Maxwell... 

Shaking himself out of his gaze, Quatre glanced around at the deserted street before continuing on, lightly fingering the gun in his pocket. Almost there, ten more minutes. 

Just then a whisper reached his ears. 

"Quatre..." 

It was a voice that was familiar but dreaded, appreciated but also feared... because the owner of that voice was no longer the laughing Shinigami it had been a year ago. 

Turning quickly and pulling his gun out in the same movement, Quatre leveled his gun sights at the figure in black walking his way. As the figure stumbled into the meagre light cast by one of the dim street lamps, Quatre uttered in a wavery voice, "Don't come any closer Duo... I don't want to hurt you..." 

When Duo didn't seem to hear, Quatre quickly took a once over of the approaching boy and his liquid blue eyes widened. 

The figure in black was shuddering uncontrollably, both arms curled around himself as if trying to keep out some foreign invader. The knuckles of each hand was white with tension as they gripped at the elbows The head was lowered so that long chestnut bangs concealed the expressive face and Duo almost seemed to curl in on himself as he doubled over slightly. "Quatre... help..." 

A worried frown appeared on Quatre's brow but the gun didn't waver. "Duo...?" 

Duo fell to his knees on the sidewalk and finally the heart-shaped face lifted to reveal lips pulled taut in tension while a pale face framed the twin violet pools that were glazed over with pain so that they seemed like cold, hard amethysts on a field of white. "Quatre... please... it hurts...." 

"Duo..." Quatre's lips trembled as wide blue eyes took in the sight before him. Duo curled in on himself as he was gripped in whatever pain he was suffering. The tormented face of a friend in agony tore at Quatre's heart and the gun wavered. 

"Please... Quatre.... Make it stop...!" 

That voice was agony itself and Quatre felt his determination break as he retracted his gun and fell to his knees in front of the almost sobbing boy in black and held him for all he was worth. Patting the other's back softly, Quatre allowed a tear to seep out of his own eyes and whispered. "It's okay Duo... we'll help you... we'll help. It'll be okay..." 

That was as far as Quatre got before his body jerked twice to the muffled sound of two rounds being fired from a silenced pistol that rang out into the air. Pain shot up his torso and Quatre felt his arm fall away from Duo's unmoving shoulders. As he put his hands up to his abdomen, he wasn't surprised when they came away covered in a thick red substance. Pained blue eyes went up to gaze at the lowered face as Quatre felt darkness come swarming over his vision. "Duo.... why...? I - I thought..." 

Agonized blue eyes met glittering purple as Duo finally lifted his head but this time, the twin violet pools were not glittering with pain but with malevolence. "You thought wrong Quatre..." 

Quatre stared at the complete stranger that Duo had become as his eyes filled. "Duo..." 

Duo uttered a small laugh. "Poor, trusting, innocent Quatre... Even after everything you've heard about me, it still hasn't dulled your instinct to help everyone and anyone you see in pain... You were always too good to be so caught up in a war..." Duo shook his head in mock sympathy. 

As Quatre fell to the ground, clutching at his bullet wounds, Duo carefully checked the small but high-caliber pistol in his hand and grinned viciously before pocketing it. "You were right to have chosen your codename, Preventer Wolf..." 

Quatre's eyes became wide. 

"Dragon, Lynx, Falcon." Duo shook his head in amusement. "All so predictable... Wufei and his Nataku, Trowa and his agility and strength. And Heero as the most perfect of raptors, almost like the Perfect Soldier himself. But I have to admit, it took me a minute to determine why you of all people would choose the wolf." Duo grinned. "But now it's as plain as day... 

"The ability to strike out when threatened and the power and strength to kill when forced to... All of those wolf instincts are so like you Quatre... But there is one thing that is even more amusing. The fierce protectiveness and caring a wolf has for its cubs; just like how you care for all of us..." 

A tear broke out of Quatre's eye and Duo reached down to flick it away before it could trail down Quatre's cheek. 

A malicious smirk accompanied the next statement. "But you forget one little thing dear Quatre... I'm no longer one of your cubs. I am Shi no Tenshi and you shouldn't ever forget that..." 

Almost soothingly, Duo patted Quatre on the cheek before pushing himself to his feet. "Trowa was a warning, this time a final threat. Next time, I play for keeps..." 

As he walked away, Duo's final words drifted back to Quatre. "Christmas Eve should be interesting. Do tell Heero not to be late... he wouldn't want to miss the only screening of a very entertaining show..." With that, the boy in black who had called himself the Shinigami, and was now calling himself Shi no Tenshi, melted into the shadows in silence. 

Pain throbbed and Quatre felt more tears break loose as the darkness fought to grip him in its claws. But the pain was too great and Quatre's last thought drifted in a silent promise before he allowed the darkness to claim him. 

_Whatever happens Duo... we'll get you back. I swear, we'll get you back..._

* * *

Wufei gazed around him as he parked the jeep next to the car and carefully extracted the large duffel bag from the back seat before walking towards the front door. Pushing open the door to the shack, the low murmur of Heero and Trowa's voices greeted him as he stepped in. Placing the duffel bag carefully on the coffee table and seating himself down with the other two pilots who had fallen silent, Wufei gave them a strained smile and unzipped the bag. "How'd you guys go?" 

"Not much... the coffee had been imported from Earth and just arrived that day. Apparently a very expensive brand that only came from Turkey - the Minister's favorite. Too strong for anyone else and after checking the entire batch, the Nightshade was mixed in with it in crystallized form, thus making it easier to transport," Trowa replied, leaning back in his seat with his own cup of tea. 

Wufei frowned. "So the package could have been tampered with anytime from when it left Turkey on Earth to when it got to the Minister's kitchen here on L2..." 

Heero shook his head. "Iya... the package also arrived with some important documents referring to the status of a few government organizations that was classified top secret. It was heavily guarded from Earth until the colony. It had to have been somewhere here..." 

"Increasing the chance that it was Duo who did it..." Wufei deducted. 

"That's pretty much it in a nut shell..." Heero commented. 

Wufei snorted and began unloading the 'merchandise' from the bag. "The transfer went off without a hitch." Slowly, Wufei pulled out a range of automatic pistols, rifles and a colorful array of grenades and explosives as well as a lot of boxes of ammunition. 

Picking up an automatic and running skilled hands over it, Heero nodded his approval. "Latest model, brand new... the boss certainly didn't flicker over this point..." 

Wufei shrugged. "Nothing but the best for undercover agents." Flicking a glance over the room, Wufei asked, "Have you cracked the code yet? Where's Quatre?" 

Trowa raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't he with you?" 

"No... he said he was picking up the chip and he told me to take the jeep since I had the artillery. I thought he would be back by now considering I drove around a little and waited until the sun set to come back..." A concerned expression drew Wufei's eyebrows together. "He's not back yet?" 

When both of the others shook their heads Wufei shook his head in denial. "That's impossible, I saw him get into a cab. He said he'd get the cab to drop him off thirty minutes away. He should have been long home by now..." 

Trowa remained silent but the worried frown on his face was enough to denote his concern and he moved to get up. Moving over to the communit, Trowa tried to raise the missing pilot. "Wolf, this is Lynx, do you copy? Wolf?" Static. "Wolf!" Static. Shaking himself, Trowa stood. "Something's wrong, I'm going out to look for him." 

Heero's eyes were hard as he stood also. Grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair, he jammed his rifle into the holster and nodded, indicating that he was coming as well. Wufei didn't do anything, simply walked to the door and held it open and following as the other two filed past him towards the jeep. 

Reaching the small town, Heero agreed to stay with the jeep and cruise the further streets while Trowa and Wufei got out to patrol by foot. Jogging along street by street and keeping hard black eyes focused on anything and everything that moved, Wufei's thoughts kept repeating themselves in his head. _Please don't let Quatre do something stupid... please don't let Quatre do something stupid..._

The portable unit in his pocket beeped and Heero's voice came through. "Anything?" 

"Not yet..." Wufei replied. 

"North-east sector is clear, I'm moving on." Heero's voice came back. 

"Ryoukai." 

After five more minutes of fruitless searching, Wufei turned the corner of a small deserted road to be met with the sinkingly familiar smell of blood lingering in the air. Speeding up, Wufei pounded the pavement with his feet as a bad feeling crept into his stomach. Hoping against hope but knowing that hope had never really kept its promises, Wufei searched the area with his eyes and only then did he see the pool of dark crimson that lay under a dim street lamp. 

Then he caught the body that lay just out of the meager light and gasped. 

_Oh God... no..._

Pulling out his communit as he ran as fast as he could, Wufei snapped, "Fifth and Ninth, hurry." Nothing more needed to be said as he pocketed the instrument and threw himself to his knees. Using the pathetic light thrown off by the street lamp, Wufei assessed the smaller blond's injuries quickly with a critical eye, keeping his horror in check. 

Mentally, Wufei recorded the injuries. Two bullets to the right lung, fired at close range and most likely from a pistol judging from the size of the bullets. Might have snapped a few ribs in the process. Shrugging off his jacket, Wufei wadded it up and pressed it to stem the flow of blood as he checked Quatre's life signs. Internal bleeding was inevitable but the fact that small, irregular and shallow breaths continued to make their way into Quatre's body was a good sign that it wasn't too serious. Pulse was irregular and Quatre's face was pale from blood loss. 

The roar of a speeding jeep rounded the corner and screeched to a stop directly in front of Wufei and Quatre. Without looking up, Wufei said loudly, "A punctured lung and maybe snapped ribs. Internal bleeding and blood loss. We can't treat this by ourselves." As Trowa joined him, they carefully lifted Quatre's body into the jeep as Heero cursed and pulled out his communit. 

"Water, this is Falcon." 

Sally's worried voice came over. "What's wrong?" 

"Wolf's hurt, I need you to notify the nearest hospital and get them to have an operating room ready." 

A pause. Then, "I'll be right on it. Nearest surgical hospital is in Taho City, approximately twenty minutes away." 

As Quatre was carefully loaded in the back and Trowa opted to sit with the injured Arabian, Wufei jumped into the passenger's seat as Heero started the car and squealed into motion. "Tell them to expect us in ten. Falcon out." With that, Heero tossed the communit over to Wufei and gripped the wheel in both hands before pushing the gas pedal to the floor with his foot. 

* * *

True to his word, Heero sped into Taho City in a little over nine minutes and without decreasing speed, wove in and out of traffic in the larger city, probably breaking every speed limit in the entire colony and braked to a stop in front of the emergency entrance of Taho City Surgical Hospital in just under eleven minutes. 

Nurses rushed out with a gurney and efficiently, with gentle movements, Quatre was loaded on and rushed into the entrance, Trowa jogging slightly beside them while Heero and Wufei lingered behind with the only not uniformed person that had come out. 

The older man extended his hand to the two silently guarded boys and said, "Joseph Lowne, pleased to meet you." When the two pilots failed to shake hands, the man - Joseph - smiled slightly and reached into his pocket. When the two younger men tensed, eyes going intently towards his hand, the smile turned into a large grin. Slowly the man pulled out an ID and flipped it open to reveal the Preventers insignia and his photograph. 

Flickering his eyes from the ID to the man's face, Wufei reluctantly shook hands but Heero kept to himself. Joseph gestured that they should be moving into the hospital. "I'm a member of the Preventers surgical team, my partner and I were stationed here just in case. Looks like that 'in case' was a good precaution." 

When he looked at the two younger men beside him who were silent and focused on the corridor ahead, Joseph's mouth twitched nervously. He had never come across these undercovers before but their status had to be so high that he couldn't even retrieve any data on them when he'd asked. Clearance red guys. 

Even though they didn't look like much, Joseph knew the reputation that the Chinese boy had amongst the higher Preventer ranks, being now a member of Lady Une's closest council with a few other select members. Being of a fairly senior rank, Joseph was privy to the young man's codename only but the other, although status was the same, was not known to neither him nor his partner. 

Licking his lips, Joseph continued. "May I say that it's an honor to finally be able to meet the elusive Preventer Dragon, we've heard a lot about you..." 

Wufei snorted and from the looks of anger and non-tolerant attitudes, Joseph wisely chose to remain silent as he led the way down the corridor. Turning the corner, they came to face Trowa standing next to the double doors with the red light above them lit. Trowa shook his head at the silent query put forward by his fellow pilots indicating that nothing had happened yet and knowing this, Heero and Wufei dropped themselves into the seats and remained silent. 

Joseph looked from one passive face to another and decided that being anywhere would be better than in a waiting room filled to the brim with tension with these three undercover agents who undoubtedly carried more than a gun on their person. Not that they looked like they needed guns - these guys were strictly professionals... "I'll be going in now and if you need anything just ask the nurses. Wolf will be treated with the utmost care, rest assured." With that he disappeared into the double doors. 

Alone, Wufei opened his mouth to talk but Heero beat him to it. "It was Duo, no doubt." 

"I wasn't going to ask who, but rather, how? Quatre must've known after Trowa that Duo was dangerous. Those shots were fired from close range - very close range. The only way Duo would have been able to get that close was if Quatre let him. The fact that the bullets entered through the chest and not the back confirms it." 

Trowa unfolded his crossed limbs from where he stood leaning against the wall and dropped himself gracefully into a chair. "Duo most likely exploited Quatre's one weakness..." 

At Heero's raised eyebrow Trowa elaborated. "Quatre cares too much about his friends. And no matter what he'd heard or seen, Quatre would help if Duo showed even the slightest sign of being normal..." 

Wufei sighed. "That's probably the only explanation... We'll just have to wait until Quatre wakes up for the full story..." 

The three lapsed into silence and however much time passed in the next period they weren't sure, but it was already 12:30am in the morning when the red light finally flashed off and Joseph stepped back out with another man behind him, both wearing green surgical overcoats. 

All three pilots stood up and were quickly ushered into a small bare room except for a table and a few chairs and were gestured to sit down. Joseph introduced the other man. "This is my partner, Zach Tyler. He's been working on Wolf for the past few hours so I'll let him explain." 

The other man was frank. "Wolf will pull through. He's suffered considerable blood loss but the internal bleeding was minimal, comparative to the circumstances of a case such as this of course. Although the bullets did pierce the right lung, they managed not to hit any major bronchial vessels so he was very lucky. However, despite the bullets, he also has two broken ribs that were most likely caused by the bullet entrances. One was fine but the other managed to puncture the lung and blood has been leaked into the right lung. But it's nothing too bad and we've managed to stitch him up as best we can. He'll be transferred to intensive care until he wakes up, which should be within the next twenty-four hours or so..." 

Joseph slid a clear sealed plastic bag across the table. "These are Wolf's personal artifacts found on his person." In the bag, the largest objects were the gun and the portable communit while the next was Quatre's wallet. Finally three pairs of eyes fixed on the small bronze chip in clear plastic casing and breathed a minute sigh of relief that was not detected by either of the older men in the room. 

As Heero reached into the bag for the H3 chip, Wufei asked, "How long until he's up and moving?" 

"We're predicting five days to a week, but even then I'll have to subscribe painkillers," Zach replied. 

"Where are the bullets that were extracted?" Trowa calmly asked. 

Joseph looked startled. "They're going into Evidence. The police want to know what happened." 

Trowa quietly advised, "Go and get them. Bring them here and tell the police that this is strictly Preventers business. None of their concern." 

Joseph looked around at the grim and unforgiving faces and licked his lips before moving towards the door. "Yes sir..." 

Turning the small chip over in his hand, Heero said, "Lynx why don't you stay here with Wolf. Dragon and I will go and clean up." 

Sensing what Heero was about to do, Trowa nodded. "I'll be here..." 

To the incomprehension of Zach, Heero and Wufei walked out of the room and towards the exit doors. 

* * *

Striding into the small shack that had been home for less than a week, Heero and Wufei quickly went about packing everything up. The laptops were disconnected and stowed in each individual's duffel while the artillery were taken from their hiding places and carefully placed back into their designated compartments. Finally, after everything was gone from the shack, Wufei reached into the back of the closest where, hidden, hung four Preventers insignia jackets and tossed them to Heero who stuffed them in with the guns and other equipment. 

While they went through another round of the house to make sure everything was as it was when they first came, Wufei spoke the first words. "What do you think is going on?" 

Heero shook his head. "I don't know... but my instincts tell me something big's coming up..." 

"So you think Duo's not going to stick around much longer..." 

"There's no reason for him to... and there's more chance of being discovered if he stays on the one colony for too long..." 

"So he's going to move soon?" 

Heero made an affirmative noise as he made for the door. "That's why we need to be ready to move." 

Each shouldering two large duffels, Heero fished another set of keys out of his jeans pocket and tossed them at Wufei, who snatched them out of the air with ease as they walked out of the shack. Settling themselves in the two cars, they roared out again in a squeal of tires, comfortably setting a breakneck pace back to the hospital. 

* * *

Back at the hospital, Trowa carefully examined the bare room he was sitting in before the door opened and Joseph walked in with a clear bag tagged with the 'evidence' slip and a burly officer who walked in behind him. 

Joseph placed the bag on the table and gestured at the man accompanying him. "This is Captain Broski, he insisted on coming to sought the matter of the bullets out with you." 

The uniform-clad officer quickly stepped up to Zach and said in a loud commanding voice, "I demand to know the meaning of this. First dispatch gets an anonymous call and then minutes later, a couple of kids break every single speed limit on the colony to get here and then they give me another kid with a couple of bullets in him. What the hell is going on?" 

Trowa's lips quirked briefly as he stood up and Zach gestured to him. "I'm not the one in charge of the operation Captain, he is." 

Broski's eyes flickered over Trowa's lean frame and the relaxed posture he held himself in and gave a bark of laughter. "You've got to be kidding. Give me the details or am I going to have to haul all three of your asses down to the station?" 

Just then the door opened and Heero and Wufei walked in, stopping for a while at the scene of the almost face-off in the room before continuing. Heero casually tossed Trowa's duffel at him before setting his own down in his seat. Wufei set both his bags down and at Trowa's slightly annoyed glance at the police officer, said to Joseph and Zach. "I'm sure you both have somewhere else to be, we'll take it from here." 

As Joseph and Zach walked out, Trowa stepped forward. "No hauling will be necessary Captain. We appreciate your concern but my associates and I are on strict Preventers business. This is not under the local police department's jurisdiction." 

Broski snorted. "The Hell it's not!" 

Wufei calmly flipped open his Preventers ID and said, "When we tell you that it's not under your jurisdiction, that's what we mean. You may report us if you wish but you will find that the Preventers Agency is ranked above all police departments on Earth and its colonies. If you wish to verify, you may take the matter up to the Director of the Preventers herself. But if I were you, I wouldn't waste her time." With that Wufei sat down and turned his back to the man. "Thank you for your time, I think you know the way out..." 

The Captain sputtered but became silent as Heero silently fished out his gun from its holster and began expertly disassembling it until within seconds, it lay in pieces on the table in front of him. Another few more seconds and it was once again back in one lethal piece, Heero calmly placed a new magazine in the gun before cocking it and leveling ice cold cobalt eyes at the burly officer. 

Broski swallowed nervously before making his way towards the door. "You'll be hearing from me..." 

When the door slid shut, Heero replaced the gun and cocked his head at Wufei's resigned face and was answered with a shrug. "It happens sometimes. Some of the officers are very territorial, especially when it comes to undercover agents working in their jurisdiction." 

"Wakatta..." Heero inclined his head briefly before pulling out his laptop and the disk while Trowa reached across the table and ripped open the sealed evidence bag. Picking up one of the bullets, Trowa grimaced slightly at the dried blood that flaked off before tossing it to Wufei and examining the other. "Seems heavier..." 

Wufei weighed it in his hand and made a small noise in his throat before wiping off some of the blood with his thumb. Tapping it against the table, he frowned. "Not complete conventional steel. That could account for the weight gain." 

Pulling a small instrument out of his bag, Trowa flipped open his own laptop and connected the two up before inserting the bullet into the cavity in the small box. Wufei walked around and peered over Trowa's shoulder as he started the program. After a few minutes, the scanner beeped and a list of elements came up on the computer screen. 

Wufei whistled. "84% conventional steel and 16% titanium alloy... Quatre was luckier than we thought..." 

Trowa punched a few more keys. "Definitely custom made..." 

"Checking for custom bullet manufacturers?" Wufei asked. 

"Aa... it'll take a while to process though, since we can't narrow the search down..." 

Soon Wufei was also at work, pulling up records and scanning them before pulling up others, trying to get a lead on the only serviceable clue they had gotten. 

Heero kept silent as nothing but rapid-fire sounds of clattering keyboard keys punctured the silence that followed. Since the room had no windows, the period of time that passed was indecipherable but it was almost midnight when Joseph stuck his head in the door and came face to face with the business end of Heero's gun. 

Immediately, Joseph pulled his hands up in the universal gesture for surrender and waited until Heero had holstered the gun and returned his eyes to his computer to relax and speak. "Wolf is awake but fairly weak, Zach says you can see him if you wish. He's in room ICU46." 

Trowa stood, as did Wufei, but Heero barely glanced up from his screen. "I'll stay here." 

Trowa gave him a barely perceptible nod and strode out with Wufei after Joseph, knowing that in this less than secure facility, the delicate information they were handling could hardly be left alone. 

* * *

Stopping at a closed door and with Joseph motioning them in, Trowa grasped the handle and glanced in, nodding to Wufei when he'd determined that it was Quatre's room. Once inside, Wufei and Trowa walked up to either side of Quatre's bed and were graced with a pair of pain-fuzzed cornflower blue eyes smiling slightly at them above the oxygen mask that was pumping air into Quatre's punctured lung. 

Trowa took a seat and smoothed back Quatre's sweaty blond bangs before asking, "Daijoubu ka?" 

Quatre's voice was barely a whisper but still strong. "Better now..." 

Wufei's sloe eyes were unnaturally soft and when Trowa glanced up, he smiled slightly. Wufei had changed the most out of all of them. The willingness to cooperate and work together had been cultivated by a year of working in team situations and the softer looks came more often to the bronze face thanks to Sally's guidance. It was as if a great burden had been lifted from the Chinese boy's shoulders and Trowa knew how that felt. It was the same as that day that he had decided he needed to live because he had a place to go back to... 

Wufei smiled sadly. "Poor Quatre... somehow you always get hurt..." 

Quatre's eyes crinkled in a laugh that turned into a grimace of pain but the laughter in the azure depths didn't fade. "My head hurts... but I'm fine..." 

"Heero's down in the waiting room, he - " 

Quatre shook his head slightly. "I understand... anything?" 

Trowa answered. "We're running data searches... nothing yet but we should have something soon." 

Quatre relaxed before his eyes opened wide and he tried to sit up. "The chip!" 

Wufei gently pushed Quatre back onto the bed with gentle hands on his shoulders and said, "It's okay Quatre... Heero's got it, he's working on it right now..." 

Quatre closed his eyes for a while before opening them and saying, "Yokatta..." 

* * *

Heero silently cursed the small disk that was taking forever to crack. It normally didn't take him this long, but he had to admit that this disk was locked up as tight as, if not tighter than, the Preventers clearance red database. Even with the enhanced hacking components of the micro-H3 chip, he was still encountering problems with the last block and his patience, which was normally in abundance, was beginning to wear thin. 

What on Earth could be so important that Duo had had to place such a block on it? 

Finally, the program finished its tinkering and announced that the block had now been penetrated with 100% efficiency. Heero heaved an uncharacteristically exasperated sigh and waited for the disk's contents to load. Instead of a list of contents, Heero's entire screen flashed black once before a blinking cursor in red appeared on the field of black. 

Heero's mind flashed blank for a second at the screen before he cursed and slammed his hand on the table lightly. "Kuso!" Keying in the commands to once again utilize the H3 chip, Heero glared at the screen as a white skull materialized in place of the cursor and a flash of green appeared to slash the skull in half. A distorted voice came over the speakers: "Access Denied." 

Keying in the command again, Heero was greeted with the same result and just as he was about to try a third time, a beeping was heard from the computer set up next to his own. Sliding himself into the next seat, Heero quickly pulled up the communications message and Sally's tense face greeted him. "Falcon, quarry has moved." 

Heero swore under his breath and got up and began packing everything while Sally kept talking. "Quarry is bound for Earth on business class shuttle that launched two minutes ago. The shuttle is expected to land in spaceport V35 in approximately seven hours." 

Pausing the data searches and shutting down the computers, Heero dumped them into the duffels before giving his own a glare and ejecting the disk. Stuffing that into his pocket, Heero tersely said, "Can you hold it in the air?" 

"Iya. Shuttle has been in motion since yesterday. It is running low on fuel and scheduled to refuel at V35. Preventers shuttle will be ready and waiting for you on launch ramp 12 in five minutes." 

"Ryoukai, Falcon out." 

Shutting off the final computer, Heero shouldered all four packs and running towards room ICU46. 

* * *

"Are you sure you can't remember more?" 

Quatre shook his head in slight pain. "Gomen ne Wufei, my head's just a jumble of things right now, I don't think I remember more than that..." 

Trowa sighed. "So you thought Duo was in pain..." 

Quatre nodded miserably. "Aa... he - he..." 

Wufei put a comforting hand on the Arabian's shoulder. "Daijoubu Quatre... we'll wait till you're more recovered ne?" 

Suddenly the door flew open and Wufei and Trowa were instantly on their feet before they met Heero's intense blue gaze. "Quarry's moved, shuttle is waiting." 

Trowa's eyes flickered from Heero to Quatre. "Demo..." 

Heero tossed two bags and a set of keys at Trowa and another bag to Wufei. "Lynx, you stay here with Wolf. Water wants all and any information you can find on the bullet. Dragon comes with me." After orders were rapped out, Heero spun on his heel and raced out of the room, leaving in his wake nurses and orderlies who were enraged at the dark-haired boy's behavior. Wufei followed, ignoring the shouts of anger and jumped into the jeep just as Heero started the engine. 

* * *

On the shuttle, Heero and Wufei sat in front of the vid screen relaying the recent events to Lady Une. 

"So Quatre is okay?" 

"He should be up and moving in about four days," Wufei replied. 

Heero was deep in thought. "Duo didn't come to the colony for nothing. The attempt on Minister Lotar's life was pathetic and hardly his objective..." 

Sally grimaced. "He could have just been there to attack you." 

Wufei disagreed. "Iya... he could have attacked us anywhere on Earth, why pick this colony of all places?" 

As all four people sat in silence, the phone on Lady Une's desk began to ring and she picked up, growling into the receiver. "Une." Slowly, her eyes widened and she nodded her head. "I understand, I'll get right on it." Disconnecting, she punched a button and snapped, "I want all personnel clearance yellow and above at L2 to assemble at the designated point I'm forwarding right now! I want to know exactly what happened and how it happened!" 

Lady Une slammed the phone down and took a deep breath before facing two of the boys she trusted so implicitly. "Well, I guess we now have a reason. Representative Mileski has just been reported dead from a top secret meeting with Minister Lotar on V16753. Causes seem natural enough, a serious seizure, but Mileski was reported to have perfect health before the incident..." 

Sally gasped. "But..." 

"So the attempt on Lotar's life was just a cover up," Wufei deducted, his face hard and cold. "While everyone was concentrating on Lotar, Duo went for the bigger fish..." 

Heero's only reaction was a clenching of the fists and a tersely muttered, "Chikusho!" 

* * *

On the business class shuttle that was an hour ahead of its unknown pursuer, a slender chestnut-braided boy leaned back in his seat as he sent an email message. The photo was bad quality but it, and the information, had been sufficient for the boy who needed to carry out the job. Under the picture, a single sentence was printed against the white background: 

'TARGET ELIMINATED.' 

As the confirmation message came through, the boy smirked and pulled up another file. One photo showed a rotund man with short dark hair and beady brown eyes in an expensive tailored suit that seemed to bulge over the pot-belly. The other was of the blonde young woman in a designer beige suit that hugged her figure while another blonde, with pale blue eyes, longer blonde hair and feathered eyebrows hovered by her side. 

A whisper that was unheard by the boy's nearest neighbor drifted from the boy's smugly smiling mouth and long chestnut bangs lifted to reveal wildly glittering violet-blue eyes in a face that was pale. "One more down... two to go..." 

As the shuttle began its descent into Earth's atmosphere, Duo Maxwell grinned before shutting off the laptop. "Shi no Tenshi never fails..." 

* * *

Stepping out of the landed shuttle and onto Earth once more, Heero and Wufei wordlessly followed the plan that they had made a few hours before. 

Since Duo's shuttle had landed an hour before and the braided maniac could have gone anywhere in that space of time, though it was noted that he hadn't passed through the incoming checkpoint, they had decided to return to the Preventers headquarters and wait there to examine the leads. 

Stepping into his room, Heero threw his duffel on the unused bed and retrieved his laptop before walking out again towards their private base of operations. Thumbing the door open, Heero was not surprised to see Wufei and Sally already there, but Lady Une was also present, seated on a chair at the table and listening to Wufei. Giving her a curt nod, Heero placed his computer on the table before walking towards the coffee machine. 

Sally gave him a wan smile as he sat down and pushed a tray of sandwiches at him. "Eat Heero, it won't help to starve yourself." 

Wufei glanced at him. "Trowa reported back. He's compiled a list of manufacturers who make the custom bullets, he's cross referencing them with the list of plastique suppliers to see if there's a match." 

Nodding to indicated that he'd heard, Heero grabbed a sandwich and inserted the infuriating disk back into his computer before he was once again greeted with the black screen and the blinking red cursor. Listening to the conversation with a half ear, Heero returned to rapidly typing sequences on the keyboard, silently willing the disk to recognize the commands but was each time answered with the white skull and the flash of green. 

Sitting back for a minute and glaring at the screen, Heero decided to try the oldest, and not to mention longest way to hacking a password. Guesswork. He growled under his breath. He hated doing it this way, not only was it non-productive, it could also be years before he found the right combination. But with no clue as to what the password was, he didn't have anything to lose... 

Letter after letter was typed in and Heero tried the most farfetched and the most obvious words that could be connected with Duo but was rebuffed by the program every single time. Growling louder, Heero became aware of Wufei's presence over his shoulder, coal black eyes watching everything on the screen while one hand was braced on the table and the other held a cup of coffee. 

Heero's gaze drifted to the coffee cup unknowingly and suddenly his mind flashed at him a scene from one of the occasions when all five of them were together during the war and breakfast at Quatre's house. 

_Trowa stood next to the stove, cooking something that smelled delicious as Heero stalked into the kitchen. Quatre gave him a bright smile as he stood by the toaster and dutifully fed the machine after taking the golden brown pieces out of the slots and piling them up. "Ohayo Heero... sleep well?" _

Heero grunted and poured himself a cup of coffee before grabbing a piece of toast, buttered it and began to eat. 

Wufei walked in, and after mumbling a quiet 'ohayo' to his fellow pilots, he followed Heero's example with a piece of toast and a cup of coffee before sitting down to pour over a few sheafs of paper. 

Then a loud and almost irritatingly cheerful voice pierced the calm of morning. "Yo minna! What a lovely day! Something smells good." Duo bounced in with his braid flapping after him and glanced over Trowa's shoulder. 

Quatre laughed. "Ohayo Duo! Want some French toast? I'm sure Wufei and Heero would stay and have some ne?" When neither of the two pilots said anything, he smiled and turned to Duo at the coffee pot. 

Duo waved him off. "Smells delicious Trowa-man but I'm not much of a breakfast person. Maybe another time you can cook lunch ne?" Duo grinned impishly at the pilot of Heavyarms and rummaged around in a cupboard. 

Quatre looked on curiously. "What are you looking for Duo?" 

Duo mumbled something under his breath before he turned abruptly with a huge grin and held something out to Quatre. "Daa!" In his hands was a chocolate bar and with it and the cup of coffee, Duo strolled out the back door. "Nothing like coffee and chocolate to make Shinigami feel like himself, I'll be going out to enjoy the morning. Ja na!" 

Heero's eyes narrowed as he speculated the point but with nothing to lose, he turned and typed into the keyboard: "Coffee and Chocolate". Behind him, he could feel Wufei's incredulous gaze boring into his back but he said nothing, just waited as the program processed the data. 

After a few seconds, Heero frowned at the screen but considering that the skull hadn't yet appeared, he took it as a good sign and crossed his arms over his chest. Slowly, the black screen began to brighten and just before it turned completely white, a familiar voice came over the speakers introduced by the achingly familiar laughter. "Naa... Heero, trust you to figure it out..." Then on the screen, lists of information began to appear. 

Heero's and Wufei's eyes both widened as they took in the information that the disk provided and unintended words drifted out of Wufei's throat. 

"Oh Lord..." 

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~ 

  



	4. To Fall From Grace - Part IV

  


* * *

**Disclaimer:** All characters and specifics of "Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing" are copyrighted Sunrise, Bandai and the Sotsu Agency. All rights reserved. This fanfiction is property of Shikami Yamino and is not intended for any monetary purpose nor an infringement of copyright laws. No one is to post/host/use any aspect of this fanfic without explicit permission from the author. 

* * *

**To Fall From Grace - Part IV**   
--- by Shikami Yamino 

* * *

As the two pilots gawked at the fairly substantial list of information on the glowing computer screen, Lady Une and Sally frowned at each other before coming up behind Heero and Wufei. As the list began to scroll, a cheerful voice came from the speakers to narrate the data. 

"Yo minna! I guess if you guys are reading this then what I've discovered must be of some importance and maybe something happened to me." A laugh. "Taking a trick from you Heero, I backed up all my findings on this little thing for you, so down to business..." 

"August of AC 196 on colony L2-V16753 while working in the salvage business and in contact with colony's administration, I found a small glitch in the files containing records of the colony's weaponry. Little by little had been disappearing from the colony's store but I didn't think too much of it, I mean things are always disappearing ne?" 

A list of the colony's armory records came up and the four viewers saw for themselves just exactly what Duo was talking about. "After a month in which I noticed that a substantial amount had disappeared along with sudden decreases in the manufacture of steel and other metals, I decided to dig a little deeper. I checked around in the records of other L2 colonies and found that the same thing had been happening to them. Tracing some of the steel and ore crates, I found that those that had been shipped off the colony were usually sent to Earth or some other Lagrange point with a fairly up front and legitimate reason. I don't know about you guys but I smelled a rat." 

Record after record was pulled up as Duo went on. "Tracking one particular crate of titanium alloy, I discovered that after being sent to L3-R19023 and sitting in the spaceport for a while, it was shipped to a company called 'Koliber Manufacturers' which, after careful investigation," the voice turned cheeky, "by yours truly, stripped the crate of its identifying codes and shipped it right back to L2-H28143 where no more records of it could be found. 

"After checking a few more crates and the same thing happened, I decided to pull up Koliber Manufacturers' registration records and what do you know? It turned out to be dummy corporation registered under a false name and address... 

"Moving on... after more investigation, yare yare you know the drill," a slight laugh accompanied the familiar phrase. "I found out that a man named Nicklaren Kotamo was running the show and backed a few large dummy corporations that were using the raw materials." 

Upon the name, Heero's hands immediately shot towards the nearby terminal, intent on finding information but Duo's cheerfully grinning voice stopped him. "Heero, I know what you're thinking. And no, you won't be able to find the info right now through any database whether it be classified or not. The man's as elusive as trying to spot a shadow in complete darkness, it took me months just to find out this much. 

"Then came Christmas and the shipping tapered off so I stopped worrying so much and looked forward to the first real Christmas I'd have." A wry chuckle. "What an understatement. First the Mariemeia incident that ruins my Christmas, and as soon as I get back to the colony, what do I find but more crates had been shipped out!" Everyone in the room could practically hear the rolling of the eyes when Duo said the sentence. "That pissed me off so I told Hilde I was taking a week off to sought out some issues - hey, I wasn't lying! I was having nightmares at the time - and I reached H28143. 

"After a few questions here and there with a few people I found that some of the extremists were unhappy - ch' that's an understatement - with the peace and were forming some sort of secret organization under the colony admin's noses. So, being the curious little Shinigami that I am, I asked around and finally got to a meeting for recruits and got myself recruited." A defensive tone colored Duo's next words. "Now I can hear you guys all going 'baka' at me now but what else was I meant to do? They always said, 'If you can't beat them, join 'em!'" The occupants of the room exchange slightly amused smiles at the tone of impishness that was present in Duo's voice. 

But Duo's voice immediately lost all cheerfulness as he continued. "So here's the more important information. After joining the ranks of the Colonists' Liberation I dug around a bit more and found the head honcho was none other than Nicklaren Kotamo. From the looks of the higher-ups, they're planning something to start the War all over again but I doubt they have enough man-power for everything. All the recruits I met were a bunch of sorry hero-wannabes who could never stand up to the blood. 

"Anyways, I didn't feel too worried and decided I'd had enough so I left and colony-skipped for a while before returning to the business with Hilde. By the way, did you guys ever get continuous nightmares? I'm feeling like shit right now but I guess I'll live ne? So after a few more weeks later I decided to check up on the CL's work and I hacked into their databanks. Cracking through a few more blocks, I came upon something interesting. It's being loaded up right now." 

On the screen, a long list of names appeared with some highlighted in bold letters. Lady Une's eyes widened. "That's a list of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation's personnel - that's highly classified!" 

Duo went on. "I didn't know what the hell that was but checking up a few of the highlighted names, I figured out that those were the most powerful people in the Unified Nation. A tweak of the strings of power they hold and war could start all over again. I don't know if this is of any help but maybe you should look the list over. I certainly can't make any sense of it." 

Four pairs of eyes scanned the lists and recognition flowed as some of the names jumped out at them. Lady Une... Kenjo... Parloff... Alain... Ottas... Lotar... and Mileski. 

"But there's something very interesting I want to show you Heero, if you can scroll to about the end of the list, you'll see a name that we're all very familiar with." 

Heero frowned and scrolled until a very clear and bold name jumped out causing both women behind him to gasp. 

"Peacecraft, Relena Darlian." 

"I don't know what this list is for and certainly not what they're going to do with it but the fact that the ojousan's name is on it made me curious. After a few more hacking sessions, I hit the motherload. Nicklaren Kotamo is the younger brother of one Douglas Kotamo. During the war, he was one of the Alliance's minor power-holders and you'll be interested to know that it was he and a few others who ordered the destruction of the Sanc Kingdom. Douglas Kotamo was later assassinated by one Zechs Merquise... or Milliardo Peacecraft. It could be that ol' Nicko still holds a grudge against the Peacecrafts or maybe not but then again I'm just speculating here. Also hoping that all this will blow over without doing much..." Duo sighed. 

"I think that's about all I have at the moment so I'll be going and getting some sleep now, I feel like Death warmed over." The screen disappeared and Duo's tired face appeared but despite the dark circles under his eyes, he still managed his best devil-may-care grin. "Hope this helped, and tell Quatre not to blame himself too much ne?" Duo laughed and waved at the screen. "Ja na!" 

Duo's face clicked off and a list of the disk's contents appeared again. The four occupants of the room just sat in silence as they digested all the information being bombarded at them in the space of one short hour. 

A beeping from the terminal next to them pierced the silence and Lady Une pressed the button to receive. Her secretary looked out at them. "Boss, Fire and Wind just checked in, should I relay them to you?" 

Lady Une nodded, still a little shell-shocked. "Please... and any others that come in." 

Soon Zechs and Noin's faces appeared on the screen and their eyes widened to see Heero staring back at them. Zechs exchanged a wry smile with Heero. "I don't know why I doubted that you would be here..." 

Noin gave Heero a warm grin. "How are you Heero? It's good to see you again." 

Heero managed a small smile and a nod at the both of them and let Lady Une take over. "So what news?" 

Zechs' face turned stony. "The name of the militia is the Colonists' Liberation and the leader is one Nicklaren Kotamo who is bound for Earth right this very second after three days on their base of operations colony L2-H28143. We're pursuing." 

Sally sighed. "We figured as much, Duo just gave us the same information." 

Noin was stunned. "Duo...? But I thought..." 

Lady Une cut in. "We found a heavily protected disk on V16753 and Heero only just managed to crack it. Duo apparently had some information dating all the way back to August AC 196. Under false pretenses he joined the Colonists' Liberation and hacked into their databanks to retrieve a list of the Unified Nations' personnel, the important ones which were highlighted." 

"Honto...?" Noin looked for confirmation and received it when Sally nodded. 

Sally addressed Zechs. "Wind, you'll be interested to know that your sister's name is on that list... highlighted." 

Zechs' blue eyes widened as did Noin's. 

"You'll also be interested to know that Nicklaren Kotamo is the younger brother of Douglas Kotamo - the name familiar?" Wufei added. 

Clear icy blue eyes narrowed and Zechs said the name in disgust. "Kotamo... I knew it sounded familiar..." 

"Where are you headed?" Lady Une asked. 

"Spaceport H13, we'll be docking there in two hours. Kotamo's shuttle maybe ten minutes in front." Zechs answered. 

"I'll send a few people over to tail Kotamo, meanwhile I want both you and Fire to proceed to headquarters for briefing, I really don't want to say too much now." Lady Une ordered. 

"Ryoukai," Noin replied. "We'll see you in a few hours." With that the vid screen flicked off. 

Just as the group was turning away, another face appeared. "Lynx, checking in." 

Sally frowned. "How's Wolf?" 

"He's fine, sleeping right now. He'll make a full recovery." At the inclination of Lady Une's head, Trowa continued. "I cross referenced the plastique stockers and the artillery manufacturers, they led me to a few major companies all under the power of a 'Koliber Manufacturers' - a - " 

"... dummy corporation," Wufei finished for him. 

One emerald eye widened slightly. "How'd you know?" 

"We cracked the code on the disk. It seems that Duo was suspicious of the operation right from the beginning. He even joined the militia to hack a few files." 

"How long before Wolf can be moved?" Sally wanted to know. 

"His condition is stable now, he's getting moved out of Intensive Care in a few hours. The doctors think it'll be two to three more days." 

"I want both you and Wolf here ASAP, new developments seem fast in coming so something must be up. Duo has made his way to Earth and so has the head of the militia and the more people here, the better," Lady Une said. 

Trowa nodded. "Ryoukai, we'll be there ASAP. Meanwhile I'll see if Wolf remembers anything else." 

"You do that and any major developments report back immediately." 

"Understood, Lynx out." 

After the moniter had clicked off, Sally asked, "What do we do now?" 

Lady Une paused but then said, "Heero, can you pull up that list again with only the highlighted names?" 

As Heero did so, the three others checked off the deceased names, coming up with seven more, not including Lady Une's own. The Director of the Preventers glared at the names before picking up the receiver and dialing her secretary. "I want a unit of ten Preventers stationed with each of the following Unified Nation's personnel. They are not to leave their designated personnel under any circumstances and are to be on the look out for any suspicious movement within the area." As she rattled off the names, ending with Relena's, Lady Une said in a softer voice, "And get me secure communications with Cobra now!" 

"Right away, boss." 

Heero raised an eyebrow and repeated, "Cobra?" 

Wufei snickered a little while Sally made a small grin. "Oh you'll see..." 

Heero scowled but couldn't control his surprise when a familiar face appeared on the vid screen, smirking slightly. "Good morning boss, what gives me the pleasure of this visit?" 

Controlling his face once more, Heero whispered the name that was so familiar. "Dorothy Catalonia..." 

Dorothy's pale blue eyes widened and then tossed her long blonde hair back and laughed. "Heero-kun, nice to see you again..." 

Lady Une interrupted the little banter. "Everything okay there? Where are you?" 

"Everything is fine, we're just relaxing for a while after a round of tours of less-fortunate areas. What's going on?" 

"How soon can you get to headquarters?" 

Dorothy's eyes narrowed. "We can leave right now, there's nothing really big going on until a few days later. What is going on?" the question was repeated more forcefully this time. 

Lady Une shook her head. "I'll explain later. I need you here ASAP for briefing and bring her with you. She's not safe right now..." 

Dorothy crossed her arms. "'Not safe'? From what?" 

"Duo Maxwell..." 

Dorothy faltered for a bit before leaning over to see Heero and Wufei's serious faces and Sally's tired one. "I see... We'll be heading over to the spaceport then..." 

"I'll have a unit waiting to escort you." 

"Sure, we'll see you in a few hours. Cobra out." 

After Lady Une turned back, Heero raised an eyebrow at Wufei but it was Sally who answered. "Dorothy decided to join after the Mariemeia incident and since she already knew the basics of combat and a lot of us, she was raised to our rank but she doesn't really like to go on missions that much, she prefers the political side of things. With Relena being a frequent target and being of the same age and already being friends, we decided it was better to keep a twenty-four hour guard on her and that Dorothy was most suited to the job." 

Heero took a sip of his coffee. "Does Relena know?" 

"Oh yeah she knows. But everybody else thinks that Dorothy is just an important member of her council and nothing more, and she knows how to keep quiet." Wufei replied. 

Lady Une stood up and walked towards the door. "There's nothing else to do now so you should get some rest. Especially you Heero, Wufei, you probably haven't slept since you found Quatre. Save your strength while you can." 

Wufei nodded and with Heero, who carried his laptop under one arm, made for their hallway. As they neared the hallway, Heero asked, "Who else is here?" 

Wufei shrugged. "This hallway is reserved for code red undercover agents. As you can probably see by the doors, there aren't many of us. A few of the suites are empty." 

Heero managed a small smirk. "Reserved ne? The reason being the 'merchandise' in the closets?" 

Wufei grinned back. "Part of it... the other part would be that this area is the most secure wing in the compound, linking directly to the boss' office especially because we don't stay here a lot and the helipad..." 

Heero made a small appreciative noise in his throat before stopping at his door and thumbing it open, managing a small wave at Wufei before the door slid shut. Inside, Heero glanced at the clock which told him that it was eleven thirty in the morning and warm pre-midday sunlight angled in slightly through the thick bullet proof windows. Emptying his duffel which he'd carelessly dumped on the bed and replacing the guns and explosives in his closet. Heero walked over to the window to see recruits training in the field below and smiled slightly before pulling the thick curtains which cut out almost all the sunlight and the lights automatically flipped on when he moved. 

Realizing that he hadn't slept in two days, Heero suddenly felt a wave of tiredness wash over him and without bothering with his clothes, fell onto the soft bed and promptly fell asleep. 

* * *

Waking up slowly, Heero rolled over onto his back and blinked up at the unfamiliar ceiling. As he blinked, sleep gradually left his mind and he stretched before glancing over at the clock. Eighteen forty five. Rolling out of bed, Heero headed towards the bathroom and when he came out ten minutes later, he towelled his hair dry and pulled on a crisp new uniform, shrugging on his insignia jacket against the slight chill of a December night. 

Walking out, Heero automatically headed for the base of operations and pressed his thumb against the pad only to see Sally sitting at a terminal, working away. "Welcome back Heero, sleep well?" 

Heero smiled a little and walked to the ever-working coffee machine. Sally continued. "Wufei woke up a little earlier and since there are no new developments, the boss suggested that you take some time off. There's no point in staying here and you deserve a break..." 

Heero sipped his coffee before asking, "Zechs, Noin and Dorothy?" 

"They arrived two hours ago, they should be done with briefing now and I think Zechs and Noin are sleeping it off in their suites at the moment. Dorothy probably went to find Wufei." 

"Relena?" 

Sally grinned. "She's probably with them too... Why don't you go down and relax a little? They're in the fencing salle in the basement. I'll report if anything new comes up." 

Heero placed his empty cup in the wastebasket and smiled. "I think I will..." 

Sally's last words were "Have fun!" as Heero walked out the door. 

* * *

In the large fencing salle Heero walked in and gazed at the many bodies clad in the white protective gear and the helmets working away on the mats. Pausing to watch some novices' bout, Heero spotted a head of familiar coal black hair in a white uniform watching two others fight. When he walked up, Wufei gave him a little smile and without saying a word, pointed him in the direction of the change rooms. 

A few minutes later, Heero came out and stopped at the rack of blades. Tucking his helmet underneath one arm and selecting one that felt right in his hand, Heero returned to where Wufei was and found him still watching the other two fight. Heero came up to stand beside the Chinese boy and watched with a trained eye for a while before asking, "Who?" 

Wufei snickered a little. "Oh you'll be surprised." 

With that abstract comment, Heero turned back to the bout to see one fighter curl his sword around the other like a snake and twist deftly to wrench the sword from the other's hand. Then in the same movement, the tip of his sword came up to rest at the other's throat, effectively ending the bout. Wufei clapped, smiling, and Heero watched in interest as both fighters, heaving for breath, reached for their helmets. 

"That's two out of three," a familiar feminine voice taunted and Heero's eyes widened. 

"You were lucky." The loser tugged the helmet off to reveal a long pale blonde pony tail that had been tucked into the helmet. Heero gazed with incomprehension at the two girls that stood before him. 

Wufei grinned. "Quite a shock ne?" 

Dorothy Catalonia shook out her long pale blonde hair and grinned at the spectators. "So, Wufei, how'd I do?" 

Relena Darlian Peacecraft smiled at Wufei also but her gaze was inadvertedly drawn to the slightly shocked figure beside him. "Heero!" Dropping her helmet, she stepped down from the mat and smiled up at the familiar face before throwing her arms around him in a friendly gesture. "How are you Heero?" 

Heero shook himself out of his daze and smiled slightly before hugging the smaller girl back gently. "I'm fine, you?" 

Relena pulled back and waved her hand about. "Oh this and that... you know how it is with politics..." 

Heero looked from the grinning Dorothy to the almost-sniggering Wufei and raised his eyebrow. "This is what a total pacifist does?" 

Relena's blue eyes glinted mischievously up at him. "Oh no, this is not fighting, this is sport! Dorothy's teaching me." 

"And well, it seems," Wufei commented. 

Dorothy sized Heero up and grinned predatorily. "So Heero-kun, how about a re-match?" 

Before Heero could answer, Relena dragged Wufei off. "Wufei, can you teach me that move you used earlier...?" 

Heero stared for a second after the two of them before muttering, "She's changed." 

Unexpected, Dorothy answered with a small smile. "That she has... she's more understanding now of what she hasn't experienced... developed a sense of humor too." Dorothy laughed. "Having second thoughts Heero-kun?" 

Heero shook his head. "Iya... we're better off as friends." 

Dorothy nodded knowingly and put her helmet back on and held up her sword. "Now, how about that re-match?" 

* * *

Wufei and Relena moved through the specifics of the drill slowly, Wufei often correcting her stance or her position. In the past year, the Chinese boy had grown to like the Peacecraft that had annoyed him so much before. One reason could be that she no longer chased after Heero with the high-pitched voice, but the main one would have to be that the girl had come to realize her naivety and was working with a more open mind than ever before. And Wufei admired that. 

"That's it," Wufei stepped back as Relena finally got the movements down and began to repeat them, going faster and faster each time until she'd gotten the hang of it. Wufei had to admit that the girl was a fast learner, since a year ago when she'd started learning, she could now hold off for a while, if not beat, a few of the more senior fencers around her. 

Crossing his arms over his chest, Wufei suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up to see a masked fencer. A deep voice asked, "You are Dragon, correct?" 

Wufei nodded stiffly as he wondered at the tinted mask that only gave a rough outline of the speaker's face and Relena paused to watch the exchange but the stranger continued. "I'm told you're one of the best fencers here. If I may, one bout?" 

By now a group of younger officers had crowded around the two, sensing a challenge, and Wufei could do nothing but accept by putting his helmet on his head. As the two prepared, Relena glanced around and saw that everybody else had stopped to watch either Wufei and the stranger or Heero and Dorothy on the other side. Content to stay where she was, Relena watched in interest as both Wufei and the other fencer moved in a serious of complex thrusts and parries, each trying to end the bout as soon as possible. 

Wufei's hand switched to autopilot as soon as the bout started, using pure instinct to block, parry and taking the chance to swing the sword into any opening that was available. Wufei's mind was solely concentrated on detecting the other person's tactics and after ten minutes, Wufei really began to use his head. 

The other fencer became clumsier and blocked hurriedly as Wufei attacked the other's weaknesses and after a few more minutes, Wufei whipped his sword around faster than the eye could detect and in a tenth of a second before the other could recover, had the tip of the sword leveled at the other's heart. 

Everyone clapped as the nameless fencer stepped back and bowed. Wufei did the same, pulling his helmet off but still keeping his eyes on the young man, trying to determine exactly which part of the stranger unnerved him. 

"Thank you. Now I see why you are the best," the man offered before another bow and walked off the mat. Wufei's eyes narrowed as they followed the man's walk towards Relena but before he tensed, the other only bowed to the seated girl before moving towards the door. Relena cast a confused glance at Wufei who didn't notice. Instead, narrowed onyx eyes were fixed on the retreating back of the other fencer. 

As the fencer, still masked, reached the open doorway, he turned for a second before moving off, tugging at the helmet as he went. Just before he disappeared from view, the helmet came off and a bright violet-blue eye glinted at the still watching Chinese boy before the fencer vanished in a flash of white fencing suit and a swirl of a rich chestnut braid. 

Wufei was shocked but pure instinct allowed him to take off instantly after the vanishing boy. "Kisama! Stop!!" 

On the other side of the salle, Heero and Dorothy both halted at the sound of Wufei's shout and turned instantly to see Wufei dashing through the open door. Sensing something major had happened, both threw down their swords and dashed after the Chinese boy, tugging at helmets along the way. 

Side by side, Heero growled at Dorothy. "Stay with Relena." 

Dorothy ignored the order and kept running. "She's right behind me, trust me, she doesn't like to be left out of things..." 

Turning slightly, Heero saw that she was right and that Relena was running right after them. Cursing under his breath, Heero kept his eyes on Wufei in front as he reached into his belt for the gun he'd concealed there. Folding his fingers over the familiar shape, Heero switched off the safety and speeded up, managing to catch up to Wufei in a few seconds. 

As soon as he drew side by side with Wufei, Heero saw what had caused the normally calm black-haired boy to react so violently. A hundred meters in front was a rapidly running figure that was nondescript, except for the thick chestnut braid that bounced at the runner's back. 

Just as Heero was taking aim at the unprotected back, the figure turned and raced up a stairwell leading up to ground floor. Giving chase, Heero and Wufei pounded up the stairs, hearing two other sets of footsteps behind them. Reaching the top of the stairs, Wufei barely caught sight of a disappearing brown braid around the nearest corner and took off, at once realizing that Duo was headed for the large bay windows that bordered the hallways of the reception building of the Preventers complex. 

As they raced down the long hallway, Heero caugh sight of the large window that Duo was heading for and fired a warning shot. "Stop!!" The bullet buried itself in the hand-carved wood of the window and before Heero could fire off another shot, he saw Duo's hand come up and a small black object fly from his hand towards the window before the white-clad figure threw himself to the ground. 

Struggling to stop, Heero knew that from his angle, Wufei couldn't have seen the explosive that Duo had tossed and yelled, "Wufei, get down!" before throwing himself at the two girls behind him, pulling them to the ground. 

Wufei speeded up when he saw Duo fall but reacted too late to Heero's shout and instantly a loud explosion sounded that rocked the building on its foundations and the sound of shattering glass followed. Too late to drop himself to the ground, Wufei felt the pressure of the explosion lift his body to throw him back as flying shrapnel dug themselves into his skin despite the padded fencing shirt. 

Glass and plaster rained down on Heero's unprotected back and he felt the boiling heat of the explosion as he covered Relena with his body and Dorothy lay next to him, smart enough to keep her head down. As soon as the harmful rain of shrapnel stopped, Heero was on his feet and running, taking a flying leap out the now-broken window to land safely on the ground outside without losing a hair of speed. Seeing a white figure dance into the trees, Heero followed, holding his arms up at the snapping branches and trying to keep his eyes open and focused. 

But night's cloak was fully black and with a new moon, there was no light to light up a white-clad figure in a dense forest of trees. Soon Heero couldn't even hear the fading footsteps anymore and he stopped, breathing heavily and scanning the surroundings with night-darkened cobalt eyes that looked almost as black as Wufei's. Growling but getting ready to turn back, the sharp retort of a gun sounded and immense pain blossomed in Heero's right leg. 

Even as he fell, Heero pulled off a few shots in the direction of the retort but heard nothing other than the ricocheting of bullets as they hit the hardwood of the tree trunks at an angle. Falling, Heero heard faint footsteps fading away and before he could aim again, he hit the dirt and the sound had completely faded. 

It was then that the high-powered searchlights on top of the Preventer buildings switched on and began playing over the nearby forest. Heero snorted as he pulled himself up and limped back to the building, quickly tearing his white jacket off for a makeshift bandage for his leg. It was too late, the braided baka was long gone by now. 

Climbing back in through the window, Heero was greeted with a ruined hallway and Wufei looking in pain where he'd been thrown by the force of the blast against a wall at the far end. Dorothy and Relena hovered by his side as did a younger officer who held a first aid kit and Dorothy gently tried to remove the shrapnel from his body. 

Relena looked up from her position next to Wufei and jumped up to wedge herself under Heero's arm as a human crutch. Heero was grateful for once for the support because this wound, he knew, was much worse than the last time Duo had shot him in the leg. Placing Heero down next to Wufei, Relena dropped to her knees and cast a worried look at Heero's pale face and the red-smeared fencing jacket tied on his right thigh. 

Heero glared and the shaking officer and growled, "Get them to turn off the searchlights, he's long gone." 

The young man hastened to oblige. "Yes sir!" 

Dorothy raked her gaze over Heero and commented, "You don't look half bad..." 

Wufei opened pained eyes and glanced at Heero before closing them again. "He's used to it..." 

Relena smiled grimly. "Deja vu, ne Heero?" 

Heero grunted an affirmative as he shifted to apply pressure on the bandage to stop the blood. 

Relena looked down miserably. "Thanks for saving me again Heero..." 

Heero shrugged but Relena's next question caught his attention. "Demo... why is... why is Duo trying to..." 

Dorothy didn't look up from tending Wufei's wounds. She merely answered Heero's unphrased question. "She didn't attend the briefing." 

Footsteps ran up and Sally's face appeared around the corner. "Oh Lord..." She turned back and yelled, "I need the medics here and two gurneys!" 

Heero waved Sally off at the mention of a gurney and said, "I can walk." 

Wufei agreed. "We're not invalids Sally... and it's only a few steps to the infirmary..." 

* * *

After two hours of treatment, Heero and Wufei, both bandaged, lay on the beds in one room in the infirmary with Relena and Dorothy perched on chairs as Sally and Lady Une talked to the doctor outside. Soon they came in a closed the door. Sally was the first to speak. "Wufei is essentially fine although he has multiple deep cuts and abrasions that have been aggravated by the heat and plaster. He also had a dislocated shoulder from where he'd slammed into the wall but that's all fixed now." 

Wufei grimaced and clutched his left shoulder in rememberance of the moment. 

"Heero, the bullet just grazed the bone so you've got a fractured leg and it also tore some tissue, you're to stay off the leg for a few days." Sally leveled an I-am-to-be-obeyed look at Heero who glared right back at her. 

Lady Une cut in heatedly. "What I want to know is how he found a way into one of the most secure compounds on all of Earth and its colonies without being detected!" 

Wufei shrugged. "Hey, we were trained for this... remember how many times we penetrated well-guarded OZ facilities without detection?" 

Lady Une glared at him but sighed after a second. "You're sure it was him?" 

Dorothy answered, "You can't miss the braid." 

Lady Une glanced at Relena's downturned face and said, "Relena, I don't want you anywhere outside the facility. We'll give you a suite on the secured floor but you're not to go anywhere without one of these people or Zechs or Noin to escort, do you understand?" 

Relena nodded. "Perfectly... but why is Duo...?" 

"Dorothy will explain it to you and she'll take you up to your suite." The Director of the Preventers gave her a wan smile. "I must be getting back... the President wants to know why there was an emergency at the compound." 

Relena cast a sympathetic glance at Lady Une's back but whipped her head around as soon as she heard the beds creak. Heero and Wufei were both getting up. 

Sally planted her fists on her hips and glared. "And where do you think you're going?" 

"To my room," both answered in unison as they made their way to the door 

Sally was about to say something else when Dorothy, followed by Relena, walked after the two, advising with a wink, "I wouldn't waste my breath Sally. We'll make sure they don't faint along the way..." 

As Heero thumbed open his door, he stumbled in before collapsing on the bed and crawled in under the covers before falling into painfilled, exhausted sleep. 

* * *

Heero woke up to a bright morning streaming in through the windows and was startled when his door buzzed and Relena announced her presence. "I've got breakfast." 

Realizing his stomach was growling softly, Heero pressed a switch by the bed and the door slid open to reveal Relena with a laden breakfast tray and Noin behind her. As Heero sat up in bed, Relena placed the tray on his bed and took a seat by the bed and Noin perched on the end of his bed. As Heero reached for the coffee, he scowled. "How did you know I was awake?" 

Relena stammered and lowered her head but the faint blush on her cheeks and Noin's amused expression told all. Heero growled. "I was drugged." 

Noin chuckled. "It's the only way to make sure you would at least get off that leg enough... Believe me, Sally would have protested a lot more insistently against you two leaving the infirmary if you hadn't been drugged with painkillers and sleeping pills." 

Heero glared, suddenly losing his appetite. "How long have I been asleep?" 

Noin glanced at her watch. "Approximately thirty five hours. It is now zero eight hundred on the 20th." 

Heero gawked at her for a second before cursing and trying to swing himself down off the bed. He froze when he heard the cocking of a gun. Looking up, he saw Noin playing with a small pistol in her hand and a smile on her face. "Since this is the only way to get your attention, did we forget to mention that the reason we're here other than to make sure you eat is to confine you to bed? Under the doctor's and the boss' orders. Now eat!" 

Heero stared at her for a while then turned to Relena who nodded with a determined gesture and sagged back into bed. He may have been suicidal but he was not dumb to the point of doing what was forbidden when he was held at gunpoint in his own bed. 

Noin laughed when he picked up his coffee cup again and leveled chilling blue eyes at her over the rim. "Don't feel bad Heero, I'm sure Wufei is getting the exact same treatment in his room with Sally and Dorothy." 

* * *

After two days of confinement to bed, both Heero and Wufei were getting a severe case of cabin-fever and against everyone's wishes, though they knew that this was as long as the two former-pilots would stay in bed, were allowed out. 

Heero limped slightly to the base of operations and walked in but didn't sit down, preferring to pace as he endured the slight uncomfort of his leg. Minutes later, Wufei walked in and with a nod, he flicked on the terminal to check for updates. Since there was only the two of them in the room, Wufei said, "What do you suppose Duo was aiming for? He didn't make any kind of threat towards Relena at all..." 

Heero sat down and flicked on his own moniter, pulling up the list of names again to look at. "The best explanation was if the baka wanted us to know he was after Relena..." 

Wufei gazed at the ceiling. "It's as if he wants to test us..." 

Heero grunted. "Iya... since Kotamo is calling the shots, maybe he's getting nervous about us..." 

The communications terminal beeped and Trowa's face appeared on the screen with Quatre's slightly strained one. "Minna! We heard about what happened, daijoubu ka?" Quatre's voice was worried despite his own injuries. 

Wufei smiled at the Arabian. "We're fine Quatre... how about you, are you okay?" 

Quatre grinned. "Painkillers work wonders don't they?" 

Wufei laughed and Heero smiled before asking. "Anything new?" 

Trowa replied, "We just finished talking to the boss. After an investigation by poison experts, Mileski's cause of death was finally determined as a lethal, very rare and barely traceable poison that primarily attacks the brain and thus makes its victims look like victims of seizure." Not waiting for an answer, Trowa went on. "Quatre is sufficiently recovered so we're making our way back now." 

Wufei sighed in relief. "It'll be good having you back..." 

Quatre nodded. "Aa... we'll trade stories when we get back. Ja na~" 

As soon as the vid screen clicked off, the door buzzed and Dorothy's slightly hauty voice rang through. "Is this a private party or can anyone join?" 

Pulling the switch to the door which slid open, Dorothy stepped in while Relena stepped in behind her, also clad in a Preventers uniform. She explained. "We thought it would be easier for me to get around undetected." 

Before either Heero or Wufei could answer, Lady Une's face appeared on the vid screen. "Heero, Wufei, where's Relena?" 

Relena stepped up. "I'm right here..." 

Lady Une sighed in relief and said, "From now on, I don't want you to let her out of your sights even for a second understand? With everything as it is, we can probably hold together but if Peacecraft-sama dies and the majority of the population finds out that it was the colonists, we'll have another civil war on our hands..." 

Relena gasped. "What happened?" 

Dorothy, Heero and Wufei leaned forward also to catch the words uttered in a tone of barely suppressed outrage in Lady Une's voice. "I don't believe this... but even under guard by a unit of ten Preventers, Duo was able to complete his objective and get away undetected..." 

Dorothy frowned. "Who?" 

"Ambassador Keats was shot through his bedroom window with a high-powered sniper's rifle last night while asleep." 

Relena's eyes widened and she took a few steps back before collapsing into a chair. "Ambassador... Keats..." 

"Until Trowa and Quatre get here, I don't want any of you to leave the room. Any requests, send them to Sally and she'll bring them but I don't want Relena in any danger, understood?" 

"Ryoukai," Wufei answered. 

Dorothy dropped herself into a chair and muttered, "Hope we can do something soon..." 

Lady Une grimaced. "So do I Dorothy, so do I..." 

* * *

In a small shabby apartment, Duo Maxwell grinned as he sent the email message with the satisfying words of 'TARGET ELIMINATED' once again in the body of the message. Pulling a knife out of his boot, he flicked it open and ran it along his fingers, satisfied when a thin line of red appeared before any sign of pain. 

Leaning back in his chair, he stared at the only picture left on the computer screen and chuckled. 

"And then... there was one..." 

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~ 

  



	5. To Fall From Grace - Part V

  


* * *

**Disclaimer:** All characters and specifics of "Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing" are copyrighted Sunrise, Bandai and the Sotsu Agency. All rights reserved. This fanfiction is property of Shikami Yamino and is not intended for any monetary purpose nor an infringement of copyright laws. No one is to post/host/use any aspect of this fanfic without explicit permission from the author. 

* * *

**To Fall From Grace - Part V**   
--- by Shikami Yamino 

* * *

Three Preventers and one vital politician sat around the table in their base of operations as they discussed the happenings of the past two weeks. 

Relena Peacecraft shook her head in incomprehension before taking a sip of her coffee. "I just don't understand... what do they hope to achieve by starting the war again? Peace is hard enough to attain as it is, why want to destroy it when it's finally here?" 

Dorothy Catalonia was thoughtful. "Some just like conflict, some have no where to unleash their anger on people where once they could and others simply can't let go of their soldier days..." 

"But can't they see that the people are happier now that the war is over?" 

Wufei shrugged. "Some are blind to the needs of everyone but themselves..." 

Silence reigned for a minute but all four froze as the door slid open, only to relax again when Trowa and Quatre stepped into the room. 

Quatre smiled. "Hisashiburi desu ne?" 

Trowa offered a nod to Dorothy who laughed and to Relena who smiled at him warmly, walking from her side of the table to where the two newly-arrived stood. Over the years, she had become closer to all the pilots, not just Heero and Wufei and they could now be termed as friends, if not close friends. Relena reached up to the tall former-pilot and hugged him before turning to Quatre. "Welcome back Trowa, Quatre. Daijoubu?" 

"We're fine, Relena... you?" Trowa returned as he oversaw Quatre get into a chair. 

"A little shaken but otherwise okay," Relena replied. 

As the six members sat down, Quatre took a deep breath and said, "Okay, what's been happening? Don't leave anything out." 

* * *

A few hours later, the occupants of the room leaned back and contemplated all that they had heard, lost in their own thoughts. 

"You're sure you don't remember anything else Quatre?" Wufei pressed. 

Quatre shook his head sadly. "Nothing at this point... there may be something but I'm afraid I just can't pin point it..." 

"Where's Kotamo now?" Trowa inquired. 

"The surveillance team reports that he's been holed up in his estates ever since he arrived there a few days ago..." 

Quatre frowned. "Have you tried to pass a surveillance satellite over it?" 

"Impossible, the whole place is wired with electronic signal jammers. Everytime a satellite passes, all we see is a blob of white exactly where the estate is," Dorothy explained. 

The door buzzed. "Fire and Wind," came the familiar deep voice of Zechs Merquise. 

Reaching over to release the door, Heero nodded at the two Preventers who entered the room while Relena reached to her brother for a comforting hug. Sitting down at the large table, Zechs said, "We've got the latest news from the team still stationed on H28143." 

Dorothy leaned foward. "And?" 

"It looks like the Colonists' Liberation is beginning to make its move but nothing's definite. They seem to be waiting for a signal or something." 

Wufei raised an eyebrow. "Their leader's return perhaps?" 

Noin nodded. "Perhaps, or it could be something completely different..." 

"Send out another unit to surround Kotamo's estate," Heero commented with a dangerous gleam in his eyes, "Make sure that we know his every move until we find enough evidence against him for conviction." 

Trowa sighed. "That's probably the best solution." As soon as he'd finished, Quatre couldn't hold in a large yawn and Noin looked at him compassionately. 

"Quatre, you should get some sleep, you're still wounded. You should all get some sleep. Zechs and I will handle here for now." 

Quatre smiled gratefully at the older woman and got up, followed by Trowa and made his way out the door, both keeping an eye on Relena who was following silently. 

The other three looked at each other and Dorothy could see that both Wufei and Heero were stretched taught with the tension of not being able to do anything until further information came in. "It's late," she commented, standing up. "I think there should be a free training room down in the basement, anybody feel like working off some tension?" 

Wufei and Heero both stood to follow her out as Noin called to them. "Don't strain yourselves, you two!" 

Although they didn't strain themselves, all three Preventers had worked and worked, taking out all their frustration on the gym equipment and it was quite a while later before they dragged themselves up to bed, falling asleep as soon as their heads touched the pillow. 

* * *

Heero awoke to the feeling of warmth on his face and he cracked open an eye to see bright and golden sunlight streaming in through the open curtains. Blinking sleep away, he remembered that he'd gotten in so late last night and was so tired that he'd fallen asleep without drawing the blinds. 

Getting up, Heero pulled on a thin white tee and a pair of sweatpants before grabbing his ID and his gun and shoving it into its special holster in the pants, designed for maximum comfort and efficiency. He was feeling unusually frustrated this morning and he needed to run some excess energy off before he faced anybody else because absolutely no one would ever want to see him pissed off. 

The only person ever able to fully be able to stand up to a pissed off Heero and not so much as bat and eyelash or take a step back was the braided-maniac that was now trying to kill him. Furiously shaking his head from the thought, Heero went into the bathroom to splash some water on his face and brush his teeth. He walked out of the room a few minutes later and made for the elevator that would take him down to the ground floor. 

Walking through the many hallways, he ignored the curious glances of the passers by in wrinkled uniforms - obvious having spent the night at work - who were intrigued that such a young man could wander the halls with such alertness and a look of restrained power in his body that they gave him a wide berth. Making for one of the many exits that were reserved for members only, Heero pulled out his ID and swiped it in the coded lock on the side. Pressing his thumbprint into the pad, the door slid open and he walked out. 

Continuing on his way out of the complex, Heero suddenly growled as he caught sight of the guardhouse and the young Preventer slumped over on the desk, shoulders rising rhythmically. Storming over, Heero determined that the man, though young, was still older than him by a year or two and had obviously recently joined, judging from the trainee stripes on his insignia jacket. Carefully letting himself into the guardhouse without a sound, Heero walked up to the slumbering young man and without remorse, thumped his fist down hard on the table, causing the precariously balanced cup of cold coffee to spill all over the other's face. 

"What - ?! What the hell? Who're you?!" the young man sputtered, attempting to wipe the brown liquid from his face as he caught a look at the younger man standing in front of him in plain sweats and a t-shirt. "Who the hell do you think you are? I'm a member of the Preventers!! You'd better beat it kid, before I decide to report you to my superiors!" He tried to affect a glare at Heero standing in front of him but whithered as he was pinned under the full weight of the chilling glare of hard cobalt eyes. 

In a thoroughly icy voice, Heero growled, "Never let me catch you sleeping on the job again. Next time you might not have a head to spill coffee on." 

The older boy gawked for a second before sneering. "You trying to scare me kid? Well I ain't buying your crap. Let's see some ID or you can get the hell outta my guardhouse!" 

Heero sneered and in a fluid motion had his gun pinned under the other's jaw, the muzzle digging almost painfully into the cartoid artery. The trainee began to sweat and he gulped for air. 

"This is all the ID I need and if I ever catch you sleeping again, the gun won't just be here for fun." Pulling the gun away and tucking it back into its holster, Heero turned and walked away. "If you want to report, tell your superior that the Falcon was here. You might also want to tell them how I was able to get into the guardhouse with you on guard." 

It was only when the boy with the frighteningly unsympathetic molten steel blue eyes had left and he saw him take off in the direction out of the compound did the trainee realize that his own gun was still in his holster. And that in his panicked state of mind, he'd completely forgotten about it. Shaking all over, he picked up the phone and dialed his superior. 

* * *

Almost four hours later, Heero, his white tee plastered to his well-toned body with sweat, reentered the Preventers complex and immediately headed for his room. Taking the elevator up, Heero breathed quickly and efficiently as he knew how, to maximize the intake of oxygen to his lungs and take air to his deprived muscles. As he headed for his room, he saw Relena's door open and both Relena and Dorothy step out as the Peacecraft was engrossed in a conversation with the cell-phone held up to her ear. 

"Yes I realize that... Yes I'm at a very safe place... You're sure? ... This is top priority with me... Yes I know I am expected to and it's part of my job but -..." 

Heero raised an eyebrow but decided not to interrupt and quickly headed for the shower. Ten minutes later, Heero stepped out and after vigorously towelling his hair dry, shrugged on his uniform and stepped out of the room, heading down to the base. Along the way, hearing his stomach growl and realizing that it was already eleven, he quickly made a detour to the cafeteria and grabbed a cup of coffee before continuing. 

Draining the beverage quickly, he dumped the empty cup in a nearby trash bin and was just about to turn down the hallway to the familiar room when he caught noises from the door to his right. Realizing that it was Lady Une's private office - smaller and more lived in than the one reserved for diplomats like the one he'd first arrived in - he stopped and cocked his head. 

"You can't be serious." 

"I'm afraid there's no other choice, I just got off the phone with my deputy minister and he wants me there." 

"Does he realize that this could put your life in danger?!" 

"Yes and he says that he'll post extra guards at every door and in the immediate area but specifies that I must make an appearance." 

Realizing who was talking, Heero buzzed the door and said simply, "Falcon." 

The door slid open and he was not surprised to see Lady Une perched on the sofa instead of behind the smaller desk and a distressed but determined Relena sitting in front. Walking in, Lady Une smiled grimly up at him and commented, "So what's this about you terrorizing a trainee guard at guardhouse 12 this morning?" 

Heero shrugged nonchalantly. "He was sleeping on the job. Considering the state of things, none of the guards should be allowed to fall asleep." 

Lady Une grimaced. "Well you can be sure that he won't be doing guard duty anytime soon. I think his superior just demoted him to kitchen duty." 

Relena hid a small giggle behind a hand and gestured for Heero to take a seat before putting on a straight face and facing Lady Une again. "It is imperitive that I make an appearance..." 

Lady Une glared at her. "I'm responsible for your safety - not to mention Zechs would kill me if anything happened to you - and there's no way that you will be safe in such a large setting. I forbid! You know exactly what will happen if something goes wrong." 

Relena was stubborn. "I'm doing this so that the population will know that hardly anything is wrong! The lid on the assassinations of powerful diplomats has been kept on in front of the media but word still goes around. My deputy was telling me this morning that the people are just waiting for this to see that there really is nothing wrong. If I fail to show at something that I am an organizer of, it would start an unneeded panic and create more rumors that would be more harmful than good!" 

"Tell them you're sick!" Lady Une gestured impatiently. 

"That's exactly what we've been telling everybody else about every other minister that gets killed!" Relena retorted. "You forget that this is my last public appearance in a while. After this, I have at least a two month vacation period. If I don't show now, the rumors will go on for almost three months and that cannot be allowed to happen! Human morality is just being lifted and any turmoil in government now would mean the lapse of almost two whole years of work, I won't allow that! I will not sit here and twiddle my thumbs with a whole regiment of people protecting me when there are people who need my reassurance!!" 

Lady Une sighed. 

Heero watched the exchange between the two women and couldn't help but admire Relena's strength now. This strength was what he had admired about her ever during the war despite her naive ideas then. It seems that the strength had now been brought forward and spotlighted and he was unsurprised that the Unified Nation placed so much potential on the barely eighteen-year-old diplomat. 

"Heero, what's your opinion?" Lady Une asked, dropping her head into tired hands. 

Heero raised an eyebrow. 

The Director elaborated. "Relena claims that it is imperitive she appears at this social gathering to reassure the people of Earth and the colonies that she is alive and well, unlike our other diplomats." 

"This gathering is...?" 

"Earth Sphere Unified Nation's annual Christmas Party in honor of Peace." 

Heero sat up, recally an email he'd received only a few weeks ago but it felt like years. "That's taking place on Winner steadings this year am I correct?" 

Lady Une's eyes snapped open. "Really? The location isn't being revealed until the last minute to prevent any potential threats." 

Heero looked at Relena. "You failed to mention that?" 

Relena blushed. "Oops... I guess I kind of forgot..." 

Heero turned back. "It's important to reassure the civilians of the still stable government and Relena's the best person to do it. Security at Winner steadings is usually excellent and I'm sure we could step it up with Quatre to lead us around. He could also call in the Maganacs from L4 for the night." 

Lady Une agreed. "That sounds reasonable enough but what of body guards?" 

Heero shrugged. "We're all invited, as guests of Quatre. I'm sure taking turns to stay with Relena, while the others patrol the area is a suitable defence." 

Lady Une nodded defeatedly. "That's the best we can do then... I'll try to make sure Relena stays in my sights and so will Zechs and Noin. We're fairly well known people so we won't be able to take the patrols but we'll do what we can. You take Dorothy, Wufei, Trowa and Quatre with you today to set up, I want every square inch of that place monitored." 

When Heero stood up, Lady Une stated, "With something as big as this, I'm afraid that it will be an opportunity too great for the opposition to miss. I just hope that Lady Luck is on our side but I must admit that it's not Lady Luck but Murphy's Law that stands out in my head." 

Heero stiffened. "Then we'll just have to make sure Murphy stays out." With that he walked out. 

* * *

On the morning of the Christmas Eve, the day of the party, Heero woke with the dawn and was immediately alert. The day would be hectic to say the least and he wanted to prepare for it as well as he could. Finishing his daily routine, Heero began preparing for the oncoming day. 

The Maganacs were arriving mid-morning and before that Wufei, Trowa, Quatre and himself would supervise the preparations of the television crews even though they would only stay for the beginning of the party. The morning at the Winner steadings would also provide a chance to double check the security cameras and work out patrol routes for the four of them. 

The Preventer units would also arrive and would need to be directed to where they should go and stand guard during the night, the band would need to help set up and would also need to be watched just in case. Caterers would need to be checked of course, and a resident poisons expert would be on hand to check all food as a precaution. Nothing was going to be left to chance. 

Or so they hoped. 

Relena would stay with Dorothy and Lady Une for the day getting ready while Heero and the others were left in charge of security. They would arrive in a convoy that would would hopefully deter any attempt at assassination because it was impossible to determine exactly which car the Minister of Foreign Affairs sat in. 

At approximately thirteen hundred, Heero the former-Gundam pilots would go to pick up their tuxedoes. It had been decided that whoever was staying with Relena should wear a tuxedo so as to blend with the crowd. After that, they would go back to Preventers headquarters to pick up their artillery and hide a few choice weapons on their persons before arriving back at the Winner steadings for the beginning of the party at eighteen hundred. 

It was going to be a hectic day but Heero couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. Pulling out his duffel bag again, Heero made to keep himself busy, knowing that with the precautions set, they would have no choice but to play it by ear. 

On one hand, he wished that Duo would never show, saving both himself and Relena from possible injury. Yet on the other hand, he wished that Duo would show and he could finally put an end to this madness and help Duo move on. Heero mentally snarled at himself for the first thought but quietened. No matter what Duo had done and whether it was under influence or not, Heero could never consider him the enemy. 

So often during the war he had threatened to kill the reincarnate of Death but could never bring himself to carry out the threat. He now knew that the first person to have shown him that there was life beyond the mission, emotions were part of being a human and become his first friend through all his denial, anger, and never wanted anything in return... that was someone to be treasured... He also knew that the others felt the same way. 

This was more proof of the human that was growing inside him. Though he knew the Perfect Soldier still existed, it had been an identity he hadn't had to take in a year... and he hoped it wouldn't come to taking up that identity again. 

* * *

In a large mansion, a man of thirty five with short but stylish light brown hair and mocking gray eyes stood in front of a full length mirror as he viewed himself in the traditional tux. The cummerbund was a smoky gray as was the pressed hankerchief in his breast pocket. He secured a small snub-nosed pistol in his pocket and grinned at himself. 

"First them... then you... Shi no Tenshi..." 

With that the man gazed outside his window at the nondescript car that was parked outside a few blocks down and laughed. He switched off his light and pausing to snatch a large envelope off the table, made his way to the basement and his underground escape route. 

* * *

It was dark outside when Heero stepped back into his room. Dumping the tuxedo on the bed, still in its tailor's bag, he headed for the shower. The day had gone successfully and he and Wufei had walked around to all the Preventer units and given them a hard talking to that included a lot of glaring and low growls of threats. The ranks had seemed to get the idea. Although of course who wouldn't if they were confronted by a pair of hard, immeasurable black eyes raging dark fire and the completely opposite, but still just as frightening, pair of cobalt blue that seemed to freeze all that it gaze on, flanking them. 

Coming out, Heero quickly put on the tuxedo with ease and wriggled a bit to get comfortable. _Penguin-suit_ floated over his mind and he allowed himself a smirk at what Duo had always called tuxedoes, slightly uncomfortable in them but knowing that he still looked good. He opened his closet and with care, tucked an automatic into the holster at his waist and another smaller pistol in the inside pocket of his jacket. 

Lifting his sleeves, Heero strapped on sheaths and tightened them so that they fit snugly but didn't cut of his circulation. Into them he tucked a few sharp blades that felt the right weight in his hand and into his other pockets went the extra clips for the guns and a wrist-com was quickly snapped to his wrist. By unanimous agreement, they had decided not to bring explosives because of the sound that they would make. Not that a gun shot was any less terrifying but at least it wouldn't bring the roof down over the Unified Nation's VIPs. Checking himself in the mirror, he straightened his jacket and nodded, satisfied that none of the weapons could be seen unless one was trained and really looking, or being searched. 

Letting himself out of his room, he saw the others by the elevator and as he walked towards them, studied each of them intently. Quatre carried on him two light-grenades, silent and set to stun, and a small gun tucked into his pocket. Since he was one of the hosts, Quatre would not be able to do much in the course of the night. Wufei had on him two guns, extra clips and various little oddities that Heero couldn't name... probably the device to check the cameras. Trowa was a little more inventive, his gun was at his waist but on him, Heero could make out a lot more knives and a few throwing stars as well. In his head he smirked, Trowa probably got used to the throwing stars at the circus and had perfected the form of entertainment into a deadly weapon. 

Quatre threw him a light smile as he arrived and Heero noticed that the powderblue cummerbund on Quatre's tux brought out the lighter shades in those azure eyes, making them seem more innocent and naive than normal. Trowa's cummerbund was a deep green, almost a cross between forest and emerald while Wufei's was a deep burgundy. His own cummerbund was a deep sapphire blue and though they all wore the same black tuxes, each seemed to portray their own mood. 

Quatre was more innocent and playful while Trowa was slightly brooding but elegant all the same. Wufei cut a magnificent figure in his black and burgundy, refined and poised while Heero exuded power and danger in his sapphire and black. 

As they walked to the limo, there was no need to speak. They knew what they had to do... 

* * *

When they arrived, the first of the guests were just coming in and many of the young girls, daughters of the politicians, kept almost hungry eyes on the four boys walking up the steps to the grand entrance. As soon as they entered, Quatre, Trowa and Wufei immediately made themselves scarce, leaving Heero on his first watch of Relena as he waited by the door for her to show up. Soon, the limos poured up and Relena, resplendent in a white gown and her hair down, smiled when she saw Heero and linked her arm through his as they entered. In the foyer, they stopped and stood side by side as Relena greeted the guests and Heero kept a close eye on everything that went on, never letting up his guard for a second. 

After most of the guests had trickled in, Heero and Relena left their posts by the door and made their way to the podium where Relena was to make her speech. 

"Welcome everyone to the Earth Sphere Unified Nation's Christmas Party in toast of another year of Peace." 

Heero scanned the large ballroom as Relena spoke, his eyes catching Wufei prowling the balcony level and Trowa by the band, keeping his eyes on the crowd as well as the exits to the gardens. A flash of powderblue caught his eye and he saw Quatre navigating himself in the crowds, no doubt checking for weapons with experienced eyes. 

"... It has not been the easiest year and nor will any year be an easy year, but peace gives us hope that one day pacifism will be in the minds of all human beings, terrans and colonists alike and that together we will be able to strive for something new. A brighter future for all!" 

Loud cheers and clapping was heard before Relena gestured for silence. "To begin War is easy, yet it is infinitely more difficult to keep peace. But it is that peace that we must work towards, both for us and our children, so that they may have a future. Once again I must thank you all for being a part of this peace and I hope you will all share my dream that one day peace will always reign. Thank you all so much for another year of peace and may we have many more years to come!" 

The crowd roared its approval of the speech as Relena stepped off the podium. She grinned at Heero, "How'd I do?" 

Heero gave her a small smile. "Fine... better every time." 

Relena laughed and pulled him towards the buffet table. "Let's get some food, I'm too visible on this stage..." 

* * *

Heero waltzed Relena around the dance floor completely out of instinct as he watched the television crews pack up and leave, seeing out of the corner of his eye Quatre's careful supervision. 

Soon, a tap appeared on his shoulder and both he and Relena looked up into Trowa's calm face. "May I cut in?" 

She let out a little giggle as she was transferred from Heero's arms to Trowa's and she gave Heero a slight wave as he disappeared into the crowd. Sighing, she closed her eyes. Everything between herself and Heero had been solved the month after the Mariemeia incident and though she had questioned the move at first, she did not now, having found out that she didn't really think of Heero in the intimate sense but more as a protector and a friend that would always be there for her. As she'd matured in the world of politics, she had formed tentative friendships that had blossomed into strong solid relationships with the Gundam pilots and often visited if one was in town. It was a nice change from the stuffiness of the political world and a place where she could be completely herself. 

Especially with Duo... 

It had surprised Relena that once her infatuation with Heero was gone, she found herself rather liking the quirky attitude of the braided American. Though she hadn't spent as much time with him as some of the others, Duo's company was one she cherished, because Duo always had a clear view of the world. Having been through a lot as a child, Duo had seen both the ugly side and the brighter side of life. Whenever Relena was having problems at work, it was not her advisors whom she turned to for help but a short call to Duo had usually solved the problem, the American cracking jokes as he explained what she needed to know in the simplest form possible. Apart from that, Duo also allowed for the strange sense of humor she was developing and she appreciated what he could say that would make her laugh. 

Without a doubt, Relena knew what her two months vacation would be spent doing... Everything in her power to make sure that Duo survived and was on the road to recovery. 

* * *

Heero wandered the immense gardens for a while, eyes intent in the dark but still appreciative of the snow-covered beauty. He checked his watch and noted that the party would be finishing in another two hours and that Wufei had probably relieved Trowa already. Making his way back inside, he thought, so far so good... let's hope it lasts. 

That was when the call came in. 

"Unit 23 reporting, do you copy?" 

Heero narrowed his eyes. "Copy that unit 23, this is Falcon, go ahead." 

The voice on the other end seemed out of breath. "We're sorry sir, we lost Kotamo. Everything was dark for the night but we sensed something different because he doesn't usually retire until late so we checked and we found no-one in the house and an underground route leading to the main highway directly from his basement. 

"Kuso!" Heero cursed. "Unit 23 I want you and the others over here at the party in ten minutes to keep an eye on things." 

"Understood. Out." 

Heero clenched his teeth as he began sprinting back to the ballroom. He'd spoken too soon. 

* * *

In the darkened halls of the Winner residence, Quatre took turn after turn, keeping his eyes open and his gun within reach. The party was beginning to look like a success and he was just going to check on the Preventers in the video security room to do a final sweep before returning for the end of the party. 

Turning down the final hallway, he came to a door with a key pad next to it and keyed in the password. The corridor beyond was lit up brightly and Quatre relaxed slightly when the door behind him slid shut. Striding towards the other door, the Arabian quickly put his thumb on the sensitized pad. 

The door slid open and Quatre smiled before stepping in. "Good evening minna, is every - " 

The monitor room's three chairs were empty of the Preventers that should have been there, keeping an eye on the large bank of monitors that showed the entire Winner residence. As Quatre's mind registered the shock, his eyes were inadvertently drawn to the pool of thick liquid at the base of one of the chairs. 

His mind turning to autopilot, Quatre immediately walked towards the emergency button that would alert all the Preventers on the premises that something had gone wrong. Darting a finger towards it, he pressed it once, twice and again without hearing a sound when it should have turned on all alarms in the security room. Only then did he realize that the small panel beside the button looked like it had been jimmied open and when he lifted the lid, found the electric wires for the emergency button severed. 

Shaking his head to clear the last of the shock, Quatre went for his own wrist unit and was just about to start talking when a voice behind him chuckled. 

"Yo Quatre... Hisashiburi da na?" 

As soon as he turned, pain slashed across his abdomen and he didn't even have time to reach for his gun before the agony tore through him and made him crumple to his knees, the splatter of his blood on the opposite wall making clear and resounding thuds. His powderblue cummerbund was being stained a darkened scarlet and Quatre brought anguished blue eyes up the black tuxedo pants clad legs to rest on the strange but mockingly familiar face and he felt himself begin falling into oblivion. "Duo..." 

A wolfish grin appeared on Duo's pale face and he twirled the knife that had recently passed through Quatre's flesh easily on one hand before reaching down to search for Quatre's gun and pocketing it. "Quatre... I knew you wouldn't let me down... Everyone's here for the party, so let it begin." 

Quatre fought the overwhelming darkness as he pressed both hands to his stomach. "... Duo please... this isn't you... This is not you Duo! Fight it, please... Duo..." 

The American leered at the smaller blond at his feet. "You've never known the real me Quatre... don't presume to. Now... I have a party to attend... Ja na!" 

The former pilot of Deathscythe turned on his heel and was out of the door in a flash, leaving Quatre on the floor fighting a losing battle with the black void which threatened to engulf him. In the strange state between consciousness and the opposite, Quatre calmly noted that although Duo wore the same black tuxedo as they all did, his shirt, instead of being white was black, and that only the cummerbund and the bow-tie weren't black. Instead they were a dark red, caught somewhere between dark scarlet and crimson. 

The color of blood... 

With that, he fell into the void. 

* * *

With hard eyes, Heero scanned the crowd as he stepped back into the ballroom and spotted Wufei standing next to Relena with Dorothy as she talked with a few diplomats who showed her curtesy as if she was the senior when in actuality they were years older than her. Spotting Trowa by the bar surveying the crowd with a glass of champagne, he quickly joined him. 

Sitting down nonchalantly, Heero picked up a glass off the bar and muttered, "They've lost Kotamo..." 

Not batting an eyelash, only the slight tensing of slender fingers on the champagne flute indicated Trowa's reaction to the news. "How?" 

"Underground tunnel. I recalled them here, they should be arriving any minute." 

Trowa gave a barely perceptible nod and scanned the overhead balconies with their heavy drapes. "We'd better warn Wufei..." 

Heero took a thoughtful sip of his champagne and asked, "Where's Quatre?" 

"Taking a look around and getting to the security room. We should tell him too..." 

When Heero didn't say anything but conveniently turned so that he blocked Trowa from the view of the rest of the room, Trowa discreetly reached a hand to his wrist unit and muttered, "Quatre... Quatre, you read?" 

Silence was his only answer and he could see Heero's shoulders tighten before he repeated the phrase into the device. When utter stillness greeted him again, Trowa frowned. "Something's wrong..." 

Heero didn't turn, instead he immediately placed his empty flute on the bar and made for Relena and Wufei on the other side of the large ballroom. Trowa followed, taking surreptitious glances around the surroundings. Passing Noin, who raised an eyebrow at him, Trowa muttered, "Something's wrong with Quatre... I think you should get some units up to security to check." 

Noin's eyes widened and she stiffened for a second and then nodded slightly. 

Continuing on, Trowa watched Heero almost reach their target when something above him caught his eye. Glancing up, what he saw made him freeze before he disregarded all social protocols and yelled. "Wufei! The balcony!!" 

Wufei's head immediately snapped up just as two loud gunshots rang out in the air. 

Panic ensued as the entire mass of politicians and their family members screamed and tried to run for the exits. Frantic screams and yells drifted up from where the crowd was beginning to move for the exits and as they cleared the path before him, Trowa could see that Relena was frantically trying to talk to an unmoving Wufei as he lay on top of her, two patches of darkening liquid spreading over the back of his tuxedo jacket from two bullets that had been aiming for the Peacecraft. 

Sally and Dorothy were already at his side with Lady Une and Noin, both women protecting the younger Peacecraft at in their midst while Zechs stood guard. Unlike the former Gundam pilots and the Preventer units, they had not been allowed to bring firearms into the premises and so were helpless to do anything. 

As he gauged the scene in an instant, out of the corner of his eye he saw movement from the balcony and he immediately sprang into action, not surprised that Heero was already a step in front of him with his gun in hand. 

The figure in black made for the open windows as the doors were being blocked by the crowding diplomats and both pursuers followed suite. Leaping into the icy December night air, Trowa pounded, a step behind Heero, after the fleeing person, having no doubts that it was who he thought. 

As Duo Maxwell raced for the gardens and ultimately the trees that bordered one side of the estate, Heero yelled into his wrist unit, "I want as many units as possible on the west side of the estate now! Blockade the whole area!" 

While Heero yelled, Trowa took the chance to speed up and soon he was leading, crashing through the snow covered trees chasing the illusive spectacle of Death in front of them. He noticed Heero pulling along and made a silent agreement to the words, "Split up" and veered away to the left, leaving Heero the right to try and surround their quarry. 

The footsteps continued towards the center of the copse of large pines before they completely disappeared. Trowa froze, alert and wary as he cocked his head for a sign of where Duo had gone. Unable to keep running, Trowa inched along the trees, using them as cover while he scanned the little space available in the midst of tall, thick trunks. 

Alert as he was, Trowa was taken completely by surprise when the small 'schnik' of a knife sliding out of its sheath and as he turned, he felt smooth and sharp metal penetrate the muscle of his right shoulder. The automatic reaction to press a hand to the wound was stifled when two more gunshots rang out and immense pain blossomed in his left arm and his right knee. Unable to do anything in that space of time before he fell other than whip a throwing star in the direction of his attacker, Trowa allowed himself to fall into the considerable blanket of snow. 

A body landed beside him and he gazed up with calm but pained eyes to land on the reflected moonlight on the throwing star embedded on the left forearm. A familiar but mocking laugh was heard as he gazed into night-darkened violet-blue eyes. 

"Trowa, Trowa... You of all people should have realized the tactics of a lynx... Your loss... better luck next time." Duo tossed the immobile body on the ground a cheerful wave before he took off again and this time Trowa was in no position to follow. 

Duo had strategically placed his shots. Anywhere else and Trowa might still be able to pursue considering that they were no beginner in the suppression of pain. But with a knife in his right shoulder and a bullet lodged, he'd bet, in the bone of his left arm, Duo had made sure that both arms were immobile to retaliate without severe pain and aggravating injuries that could result in irrepairable damage. The bullet in his knee was to stop him from moving. If it had been the leg, Trowa would still be able to move, but the knee was a different story altogther. 

Enduring the pain for a while, Trowa reached up to his right shoulder and yanked on the blade still embedded in his flesh. Feeling numbness creep over his shoulder, emerald eyes widened and he slowly brough the blade up to his nose, catching a whiff of a distinctive but unidentifiable smell. 

The blade had been soaked in something and from the creeping numbness in his shoulder, Trowa judged that it definitely hadn't been something healthy. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he knew that he was fighting a losing battle and it wasn't long before he let darkness claim him. 

* * *

Duo Maxwell was just nearing the edge of the trees when an ice cold voice behind him made him freeze in his tracks. 

"Don't make me pull the trigger Duo..." 

A smirk made its way across his features and he turned, still keeping his gun in his hand. "Saa... Heero.... It's been a while..." 

Cobalt eyes narrowed and the gun didn't waver. "I don't think six days is a long time..." 

Duo snickered. "Aa, so you knew it was me... how's the leg by the way? Do I get a sense of deja vu happening?" 

Heero glared at what was once his best friend. "How did you get in here?" 

A laugh and Duo quickly threw something to the ground. "The Preventers should really keep track of who they put on guard duty, don't you agree Heero? Especially since the computers in the guardhouse is linked to the entire network ne?" 

Heero's eyes narrowed as he saw the high-clearance security pass and growled in rememberance. 

"That's right, the guard was conveniently asleep so I borrowed his computer for a while, turned out to be really handy for a security pass to this entertaining event. The security guards just let me right in to their monitor room. That was a mistake..." 

Cobalt eyes dilated slightly at the mention of the security room and he muttered, "Quatre..." 

Duo shrugged good-naturedly although it was much more sarcastic than Heero remembered. "Oh yeah... little Wolf got in the way... That's okay though, he's just taking a little nap now..." Unexpectedly, Duo moved fast after the shrug and in less than a second, his own gun had snapped up and fired so that the bullet tore through Heero's left shoulder. 

Pain. 

Heero inwardly grimaced at the flowering crimson blossom that was barely showing up but beginning to stain the shoulder of his black tuxedo jacket. Despite the actions, his eyes and gun did not waver and nor did his face give away any indication of his emotions. He kept his eyes trained on the smugly grinning face in front of him and glared. 

Duo chuckled. "Well I see that a year hasn't mellowed you any Heero... not that I expected it to... Afterall, the Perfect Soldier just doesn't completely disappear in the space of a year, am I right?" 

Although nothing changed on the outside, inside, Heero flinched at those words. 

_That's where you're wrong Duo,_ Heero thought to himself. _The Perfect Soldier may still exist, but I've given that up. I've put more effort into being just Heero Yuy and a normal human being than you may have thought. And right now that human is telling me that you, my best friend, are going to get hurt if you don't give up soon._

"Just like the Shinigami never disappeared?" Heero questioned outwardly. 

Duo waved him off with his free hand, "No... the Shinigami's truly gone... all that's left is Shi no Tenshi..." 

Heero raised an eyebrow. "Why?" 

Duo laughed, "Shinigami must judge the souls that come into his possession, I have neither the time nor the patience. An angel only does the bidding - and is guiltless at that..." 

"And is this how you justify these assassinations to yourself Duo? What happened to the Duo Maxwell I remember? The Duo Maxwell that had an enthusiasm for life and the wish to preserve all life on this Earth and its colonies? This is not you Duo..." 

"That's funny..." Duo smirked. "You're the second person to say that to me today, and I'll give you the same answer. What makes you think you know the real me?" 

Heero took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth. Here, his words would decide Duo's fate because it was only words that could bring Duo back. For once he wished he had Duo's ability to talk but he knew that he would have to make do with whatever he'd learnt from a year of trying to become human again. He hoped that it would be enough... 

"Because I know about you... and your past..." 

"What do you know about my past?" Duo scoffed. "As I recall, you cared about nothing but the mission, why the sudden interest in my past?" 

"I've changed Duo... you would know that if you would let yourself remember what happened. Remember Solo...? That little boy that took you in and showed you the ropes on L2. Would he approve of what you're doing right now?" 

Unexpectedly, Duo's eyes snapped dark violet sparks at those words and he pounced viciously at Heero standing a few feet away, wrenching the gun from Heero's grasp as they fell to the ground tussling. They rolled around on the snow, each trying to get the upper hand on the other but Heero, having never encountered Duo in close combat under the influence of Delora7.9, was stunned at the speed with which he moved and that moment's hesitation was all that was needed for cold, unforgiving hands to clasp his neck after a few well-placed jabs. Duo's face was contorted with rage above his own and as he began to throttle Heero, a low snarl issued from his lips. "Solo is dead! The government killed him just as it killed so many people." 

Keeping two hands on the wrists that were trying their best to block his oxygen supply, Heero lashed out with his legs and having always been the stronger, despite Duo's newfound strength, flipped him over his head to land on his back in the snow bank. Without skipping a beat, Heero was on his feet and next to the sprawled black form like a shadow on the white snow. Trying to subdue the other as efficiently as he knew how, Heero ignored the pain flaring from his shoulder as he felt fresh agony wash over him with a knife slash across his chest. 

Disarming Duo of the knife, he quickly struck at Duo's exposed neck with stiff fingers. Feeling the body under him sag slightly in the aftershock of the blow, he twisted Duo's arms behind his back and pressed a hard knee on his legs, putting just enough pressure on the arms to know that if Duo really tried to struggle, a broken arm was the least injury to be effected. Panting slightly at the fight with a better prepared opponent, Heero's words were laced with harsh undertones as he shook the still struggling Duo under him. "What about Father Maxwell? Sister Helen? Your God? Would they or He approve of the needless taking of lives and the attempt to ruin a hard-earned peace like you're doing?" 

Duo struggled, undeterred by the pain that Heero knew he should be feeling from his arms held in a severe lock. The hard violet irises that glared up at him from the corner of his narrowed eyes were violent in their gaze and in low furious tones, the answer to Heero's question was spoken. "You want to know who killed them Heero? It was the Alliance! The stupid bastards that could do nothing more than sit in their offices and order the destruction of a church and orphanage!" 

Heero did his best to keep Duo under control as he exerted more pressure, stopping only when a wince of pain appeared on Duo's angry face and the struggling ceased slightly for the moment. "Is that why you're trying to turn the state of things back into war? Is this the reason? You avenged their deaths years ago Duo, all who deserved to die did die under your hands... But tell me why these ministers and peace-keepers deserve to die. Why are you targeting them Duo? What is your motive??" Heero punctuated his words with quick shakes to the body under him as if doing that would knock some sense into the deluded mind that occupied his friend's body. 

Duo's form suddenly went completely still and after a moment, slow shudders began to wrack the body that was pinned under Heero's straining arms. A soft broken whisper was all that came from Duo as he lay motionless on the ground. "... I... I - I don't know..." 

* * *

In the shadows of the surrounding trees, Nicklaren Kotamo stood near enough to hear but far enough so that the quiet sounds of air entering and leaving his lungs would not disturb the excellent hearing he knew both young men to have. A sneer contorted his face as he gazed upon the meeting of two former best-friends and now enemies. 

His Angel of Death was caving and he knew it. Under the unexpected but constant barrage of words and the memories that came with them from the one known as the Perfect Soldier, the Shinigami's best friend, Kotamo had known that it would not be long before reality set in for Duo Maxwell. 

In reality, the drug Delora7.9 affected people in a strange way. At first under its effects, the subject would settle into bouts of depression and it was these bouts that first causes the mental instability required to make suggestive stimuli acceptable to the subject. They would be weakened under the tension of the darker sides of their life and would soon begin to disregard all other brighter sides until their happier memories were temporarily wiped from their minds. Usually, for weak willed people, this memory wipe was permanent and irrepairable. 

However for a Gundam pilot such as Duo Maxwell, who possessed a strong will and a strong metabolism to, at first, counter the effects of D-7, it was only a matter of time and it took only a talk about the happier moments of his own life with his friends to bring back the wiped memories for a time. It is only when the subject has been completely detoxicated of the drug will the memories return full time and then gone will be the ones of what the subject did under the influence of D-7. 

Kotamo leered. No matter... the bulk of the operation had been achieved and the Unified Nation would never be able to explain the sudden absences of six of its most important ministers in the same time period. He had hoped that the rest of the Gundam pilots would have been eliminated by his Angel of Death before his memories came back but there was no real issue at hand. The Colonists' Liberation was prepared and ready to move and revenge on the Peacecrafts would come in due time... 

Meanwhile, with Shi no Tenshi no longer useful, there was no point in keeping around extra baggage.... 

* * *

Feeling the shivers that ran up and down Duo's body, Heero quickly patted Duo down and retrieved the remaining weapons from the Shinigami's person, throwing them into the trees all the while murmuring, "Duo why are you doing this? There is no point... come back to us Duo..." 

Duo was silent and all that could be heard from the once unsuppressible pilot was the ragged breaths that tore in and out of his lungs. 

Heero slowly and cautiously released his grip on Duo's arms and when Duo didn't move, he let go and backed away slowly until he was sitting on the snow a feet away from the still black form. "Come on Duo... we'll get you checked out and everything will be okay... Hilde's waiting to hear from you... So is Relena and everybody else..." 

Duo's shoulders began to visibly shake as he slowly pulled himself up and to his knees, keeping his face lowered and hiding his eyes behind a curtain of long chestnut bangs. Suddenly a choked voice drifted with the warm puffs of air into the sky. "Oh God... what have I.... what have I done...? Why...?" 

Breathing an uncharacteristic sigh of relief, Heero moved forward and reaching to tip Duo's face up, he smiled grimly into the watery violet-blue eyes that were tainted with the anguish of finally being conscious of what he had done. Unsure of what to say, Heero said the only words that he could think of, hoping that it would reassure the violet-eyed boy somewhat. "It'll be okay Duo... it wasn't your fault..." 

"Heero...?" Duo's voice was a half groan and a half whimper, as if seeing his best friend clearly for the first time since the whole conversation had started. 

Just as Heero was about to reply, a flash of dulled black caught his eye as it reflected the bright moonlight and his eyes widened just as the gun, aimed at Duo, recoiled with the force of two rounds being fired. 

"No!!" 

Pushing his body forward to tackle Duo again, Heero discovered that he was too late when just as he closed his arms around the shivering body, it jerked once and then fell limp. As they tumbled into the snow bank, Heero felt pain rushing up from his own hip and knew that the second bullet had hit home even if it wasn't the intended target. 

Quickly pushing himself up onto his elbows, ignoring the pain from both shoulder and hip, Heero heard the rapid sounds of footsteps rushing away from the scene on snow and yelled into his wrist unit. "Someone is escaping through the trees, I want him captured alive! Also get some paramedics here! There're at least two wounded in the trees, not including myself. Do it!" 

Clicking off, Heero surveyed the pristine white snow around himself and Duo that was slowly being turned a strange pale shade of scarlet and his eyes immediately found the wound on Duo's body. In his tackle, Heero had brought Duo's height down lower and what had been aimed at the torso area had now impacted with Duo's head, soaking the long chestnut hair, staining it almost a copper red and ran down on side of Duo's face to sharply contrast with Duo's pale complexion. 

It was frightening to see Duo like this. The braided American had never been as still as he was now. Even in sleep, he had tossed and turned, never staying in one position for more than a few hours and to see him now, motionless and pale against the white snow and covered in blood was something that was shocking even to Heero's mind which had been more than an initiated to the world of blood and injuries. 

Hearing rapid footsteps coming up amongst the trees, Heero dropped himself back onto the ground, unable to stand the pain in his shoulder any longer and grasped Duo's hand firmly for a gentle squeeze. In a relieved but also strained voice, Heero felt his field of vision narrowing but whispered, "It'll be okay now Duo... we've got you... It'll be okay..." 

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~ 

  



	6. To Fall From Grace - Part VI

  


* * *

**Disclaimer:** All characters and specifics of "Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing" are copyrighted Sunrise, Bandai and the Sotsu Agency. All rights reserved. This fanfiction is property of Shikami Yamino and is not intended for any monetary purpose nor an infringement of copyright laws. No one is to post/host/use any aspect of this fanfic without explicit permission from the author. 

* * *

**To Fall From Grace - Part VI**   
--- by Shikami Yamino 

* * *

Heero awoke to the feeling of eyes on his face and the no longer ice cold surface he was lying on. Keeping still, he recognized the particular sterile smell of a hospital ward and opened his eyes to see Relena sitting by his bed with a book in hand though she wasn't reading. 

As soon as she saw him awake, she smiled brightly. "Heero, you're awake! How are you feeling?" 

Trying to pull himself up into a sitting position, Heero found that one arm was encased in a sling while he couldn't move without immense pain and Relena hurried to push him back down before handing him the bed-controller. "No no, don't move. You're not ready to be moved yet." 

Heero scanned his surroundings with critical eyes as he raised the head part of the bed and saw a small impersonal room with a few pieces of monitoring equipment, chairs and an attached bathroom. "How did I get here?" 

Relena grimaced but explained. "After you called the Preventers to find you, we came with the paramedics and found you and Duo sprawled on the ground with blood. You must have passed out because you were unconscious when we found you and you all needed immediate medical attention so we brought you to the Preventer headquarters' hospital wing. You've been under anaesthetic and asleep for about fourteen hours." 

"Did they get the gunman?" 

Relena shook her head in a negative gesture. "Iya, the Preventers caught sight of a fleeing man with Nicklaren Kotamo's description but were too late to stop him before he jumped into an unmarked car and drove away." 

Heero scowled but then asked, "How are the others?" 

Eyes to the ground, Relena murmured, "Trowa was found a few hundred meters away from where you and Duo were, he'd been shot twice, once in the arm and once in the knee, and stabbed once. The result was a broken arm but the other bullet just grazed the knee and so no permanent damage was done. He's going to have to take it easy though, no walking on his own for at least four days and crutches after until further notice. What most worried the doctors was the stab wound because although minor, the blade had been soaked in a poisonous substance and it had begun to move through his system. But they managed to get to it in time with the antidote so he should be fine after a few weeks. 

"We found Quatre in the security room with a deep slash at his stomach. The other three Preventers were dead but Quatre was still breathing and I think he's just came out of surgery an hour ago, he's resting in the next room down. He suffered severe blood loss and a deep cut into his torso which became shallower as the blade had moved across. Some major organs were damaged but not irreparably so. Other than that, there were no other injuries to speak of... 

"As you probably know Wufei took two bullets to the back and one grazed the heart and pierced a lung. The damage to the heart was minor but the damage to the lung was greater so he's spending some time on the oxygen machine while they check on him to make sure that the lung is working properly. The other bullet, although hitting no major organs, did scrape his spinal cord which caused swelling but no permanent damage. He's going to experience temporary paralysis of the legs but that should be okay once the swelling around the spinal cord has died down. 

"You've got torn shoulder muscles that'll restrict arm movement to only that of the fingers and hand only, and it'll take time to heal and tone again. The slash across your chest was becoming infected because you were lying face down on the ice, but because it was relatively shallow, the doctors didn't think too much of it so that's fine. On the other hand, you've also got a fractured pelvis from the bullet you took to the hip, that means no moving for three days and crutches after then until the doctors decide that it's healed enough to go without." 

Heero took in this news with a stony face. He'd known that it would be bad as soon as he'd taken on the assignment but he'd had no idea that this much damage could have been inflicted on all of them in a few hours' time. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice until a while later that Relena had failed to mention the status of the other person that she should have checked up on. 

Turning a piercing cobalt stare on her lowered face, Heero growled, "Duo?" 

A little sniffle brought Heero to look closer at Relena until he noticed that her hands were scrunched on her handkerchief and a spot of dark wetness on the navy blue black pants of the Preventer's uniform betrayed the fact that tears were indeed falling from Relena's eyes. Alarm spread through Heero's chest until he repeated more tersely, "How is he??" 

"Heero... the bullet... it didn't pierce the skull and they don't think that internal bleeding is possible at the moment... all other wounds were superficial and not serious..." 

Heero narrowed his eyes. "What aren't you telling me?" 

"Duo... he..." Relena lifted her head to fix teary eyes on Heero's face. "He woke up and... and it was as if it was another person Heero... Duo just wasn't there anymore. He tried to kill himself, blaming himself for everything..." Tears broke out on her face and choking sobs shook her delicate shoulders. "They're... they're scared that Duo's losing his mind..." 

Heero paled and he froze with the news. Losing... his mind...? 

A broken whisper was issued from Relena's lips as she buried her face in her hands. "Under the circumstances, if Duo continues like this, they... they said that Duo won't make it through detoxication..." 

Heero's mind ran around in little circles for the first time since he'd begun life as the Perfect Soldier. It was almost impossible for him to admit to himself that Duo might not make it through the withdrawal process... They could have died on the battlefield... Countless times they had risked their lives on the battlefield but they had survived... After everything they'd been through, Duo could not die now... they had been through too much to just give up on life now. 

And not Duo... not Duo! 

"Where is he?" Unlike his insides, Heero found his voice still steady as he asked what he needed to know. 

Relena wiped her eyes and said, "He's being contained..." 

Ignoring the flares of pain shooting up from his body protesting the movement, Heero spotted his clothes next to him and his crutches against the wall and swung himself out of bed. 

Relena gazed at him in shock before jumping out of her seat. "Heero! What are you doing?" 

Heero grunted with the effort and gripped the edges of the bed for a while after the effort of pulling a loose white shirt and a pair of jeans on, not bothering with the buttons of the shirt, and discarding the hospital gown. As he let the pain wash over him in a tidal wave, he reached for the crutches. "I need to see him..." 

"Heero, you can't, not the way you are now! You - " 

Relena was cut off by a glare from the Japanese boy as he repeated in furious tones, "I need to see him Relena, where is he?" 

Realizing the urgency behind those words, Relena replied, "Room 2 on the floor above." Handing the crutches over to Heero, she wordlessly helped him up from the bed and helped him rearrange the crutches before looping a supporting arm around his waist and walking with him slowly out of the room. 

In the hallways, doctors and nurses walked past them, casting curious glance their way but the glacial glare from the cobalt-eyed boy deterred them from asking if they needed any help. Riding the elevator up, they came upon a room with two Preventers standing outside as guards. When they saw Heero, they immediately snapped to attention. 

"Let me in," Heero growled. 

The guards looked at each other and were obviously uncomfortable at the request. One replied, "I'm sorry sir but no one is to disturb the prisoner until the boss says so." 

"He's not a prisoner dammit! Let me in." Heero tried to move forward but was hindered by the crutches he was supported on. However the thoroughly dangerous look in his eyes that promised violence if he didn't get what he wanted was enough for the guards and one hastened to pull the key from his chain. 

Heero gazed back at Relena undecidedly as if unsure if she should accompany him or not but was reassured by her small smile. "You go talk to him. You're the best person for it now... I'll wait out here and I'll contact Lady Une. Take as long as you like..." 

Heero's eyes softened with a grateful upward turn of the lips and pulled away from her supporting arm to hobble into the room on his crutches. 

As the door shut behind him, Heero took a good look at the room. The room was pure white save the thin slits of the air vents on the ceiling. The walls had a rubber sheen on it to prevent damage to anything thrown at it and the only other ornament that adorned the room was the bed on one side, a dark form in stark contrast seated unmoving on it. 

Hobbling across the small width of the room, Heero slumped down onto the foot of the bed and gazed at the curled form in the middle. Strong handcuffs ornamented Duo's wrists and though Heero knew that he could have gotten out of them easy, he figured that Duo's lock picks were no longer on his person. 

"They went through your hair huh?" 

The inane comment lingered in the air when Duo didn't reply nor give an indication that he'd heard and Heero felt coldness grip his chest despite the bandages and the temperature regulated room. Duo was never, could never be, silent. It was just something that Shinigami didn't do and the fact that he could be now was frightening and enough proof for Heero that something was definitely wrong with Duo. 

His eyes flashed for a second. As soon as he'd gotten out of here, he'd track Kotamo down and kill him like the dog he was... 

"Duo... it wasn't your fault, you know that. You were administered to D-7, it lowered your inhibitions, your values and made you more susceptible to mental suggestions. But that doesn't mean you let your life be ruined by it!" Heero took a breath. "You said so yourself, Death always lives..." 

Duo shifted and a monotonous murmur reached Heero's ears. "But does Death deserve to live when it means the forfeit of all life around it...?" 

Silence descended as Heero felt around for the appropriate response to the uttered question. Finally, "You know you wouldn't have done all that if you weren't under influence..." 

A dry grunt of sarcasm. "Wouldn't I? You know about me Heero, you know I've killed a lot more... I'm dangerous... too dangerous to live..." 

Anger rose in Heero's breast. "And I'm not? Or Trowa? Wufei? Even Quatre for that matter? Do we all deserve to die?" 

"I don't know... you tell me..." 

Heero pinned the still form with a glare that he knew Duo felt. Duo somehow always knew when he was being glared at. "*You* were being manipulated Duo. Kotamo twisted your thinking and you could not help but act on it. Just like I'd been manipulated by Treize that day when I killed Noventa and the generals... just like Quatre when he destroyed that colony under the influence of the ZERO system. Did you blame us then Duo?" 

When Duo was silent for a minute Heero knew that he was contemplating saying yes. He growled, "You run, you hide... But Duo Maxwell never lies. Did you blame us Duo?" 

"... No..." 

Heero breathed a small sigh of relief. "And neither do we..." 

The chestnut head finally lifted and despite the bandage on one temple, Duo still found the anger to make his eyes rage with violet fire. "Chikusho! Don't you get it Heero?! I don't *want* to live anymore!! There's been too much death in my life already..." 

"So you're just going to bail when the going gets tough," Heero sneered although unnerved by this darker side of Duo Maxwell. 

Duo made a noise of self-contempt as he lowered his head again. "If I wanted to do that I would have bailed years ago, before I got involved with any of the Gundam stuff... but I couldn't because people needed me then. Now... now it's different... No one needs me anymore and if I died the world wouldn't miss anything - except maybe a menace that can go out of control because he couldn't control a couple of nightmares..." 

"There are people who need you Duo... Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, me, Hilde... even Dorothy and Relena..." 

Duo snorted. "Let's be serious Heero, I tried to kill the poor girl. Do you really think she wants to be within a lightyear of me ever again?" 

"That's never stopped her with me..." Heero snapped back. "And I don't *think* she needs you... I *know* she needs you... as a friend..." 

Duo made a snort of contempt again. "Just leave me alone Heero... Just leave!!" 

Heero scowled. "Duo, you're being unreasonable..." 

"I can be as effing unreasonable as I like Yuy!!" Duo yelled. "Now would you get the hell out of here?!!" 

Heero was taken aback. Never had Duo displayed any anger towards him or anybody else and neither had Duo ever really yelled at a person in furious tones that didn't contain even the slightest hints of a teasing demeanor. It looked like the D-7 was still taking its toll on Duo... 

Hopping off the bed, Heero made his way to the door and opened it before beckoning someone in. When Relena entered, Heero shut the door and muttered something to her before gesturing her towards the bed to try. He was able to bring Duo back that night but it didn't look like he had what it took to do it again. 

Relena stepped forward and stopped next to the bed. "Duo..." 

Duo remained silent, head bowed, quickly shrugging off Relena's hand as it touched his shoulder. 

The younger Peacecraft frowned but then gripped Duo's shoulder, refusing to be budged. "Duo, listen to me..." When Duo still refused to look up, Relena hooked a finger under his chin and forced his violet eyes up to meet her azure. Shaking him a little, Relena whispered, "We don't blame you Duo... none of us do..." 

Duo tried to turn his head away but was kept in place by Relena's hand. "You have no idea Relena..." 

"But I do..." Relena sighed. "I do... I know you Duo, and whatever Wufei and Sally say you've done in your past, you're still the Duo Maxwell I know and you would never have hurt them had you been in control of your mind..." 

Duo raised an eyebrow but was cut off by Relena before he could speak. "Otherwise, why would you disguise the fact that you were an assassin? You could have used all your skills during the war but you didn't. That's because you didn't want to be that person anymore Duo, you've changed..." 

The statement was said was such utter conviction that Duo remained quiet and still. 

"There's been enough deaths Duo, you said so yourself... we've suffered through the deaths of ones we cared about long enough..." Relena's voice became slightly choked, "Would you leave us to suffer through your death too...?" 

Duo remained impassive but a dim light of confusion and reluctance dawned in his eyes. 

"Please Duo... we're going to make sure that you recover but the first step in that is to help yourself. You need to live Duo, for all those people who care about you and for yourself... because you need the absolution that the acceptance of all you've done can give you. We can only help you so much Duo... only you can do the rest... so please...? Onegai..." A tear streaked down Relena's cheek as she gazed into Duo's violet eyes for the acceptance she hoped that she might see. 

Duo lowered his head and this time, Relena let him go, knowing that she couldn't hold him if he really wanted to wrench away. Finally a quiet mutter. "I'll try... I can't lie and I can't make any promises... but I'll try..." 

Relena smiled a little and hugged Duo tight for a second. "That's all I wanted to hear Duo... It'll be okay..." 

After a few minutes of silence, Relena pulled away and patted Duo comfortingly on the shoulder. "We'll come back to see you soon..." 

She quickly moved away, wiping at the tears which had come at Duo's non-reaction to everything around him. Walking out of the room with Heero, she glanced back quickly and whispered, "Is he going to be okay...?" 

Heero let out a soft breath. "I don't know... I don't know..." 

Back in his room, Relena helped Heero settle back into his bed as he asked, "How long do they think until withdrawal starts?" 

"They estimate around four to five days. The withdrawal period would probably last for approximately four to five more... It's not going to be pleasant for him..." 

"The room is monitored?" 

Relena nodded. "Hai, they'll know exactly when Duo starts, Sally's keeping a personal eye on things. You should get some rest Heero..." 

Feeling fatigue and pain mingling, Heero couldn't refuse and slowly let sleep take control of his body. 

* * *

After four days, Heero was finally up and walking around, albeit using the help of a crutch but unable to stay still any more after the initial conversation with Duo. He needed to see Duo again, just to convince himself that the braided baka had taken Relena's advice. 

Hobbling to the elevator and down the corridor, Heero once again found himself facing the two guards that had admitted him a few days ago. 

The guard who had opened the door saw him and this time tried to still the intimidated look on his face. "Sir, I'm afraid that no one is allowed in now. The boss' orders." 

Heero growled but then silenced as muffled sounds of bangs and things hitting the wall floated through the closed and reinforced door. He froze then made to plough through the guards who, to their credit, stood firm, barring the door. About to resort to more forceful measures, Heero abruptly stopped at a hand on his shoulder. 

"You can't go in there Falcon." Lady Une's voice was gentle but firm as she exerted pressure on Heero's shoulder to make sure he couldn't get away. 

"What's wrong with him?" Heero demanded, piercing the head of the Preventers with a steel blue glare. 

When Lady Une didn't answer, Heero turned away to shrug off her hand and disobey orders before a voice down the corridor stopped him. 

"Don't Falcon... you can't help him now..." 

The former Wing pilot turned to see Quatre slowly making his way towards the door. Although the Arabian was walking normally, if a little slower than usual, Heero could still detect the heavy bandages under the white shirt and the slight wince of pain that marred Quatre's tired face. 

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean you can't help him now," Quatre repeated, voice strong and sure. "The D-7's taking effect again and so close to the withdrawal time no amount of talking or suppression would be able to divert it. You'd only get hurt in the process..." 

Heero was about to open his mouth again but Quatre cut him off. "I know because he's in pain... and my uchuu no kokoro feels it..." 

Heero closed his mouth and slumped slightly, though the gesture was not visible. He could not argue with Quatre's uchuu no kokoro because he knew that it had been right on more than one occasion as he knew that Quatre would never say something like that without a good reason. Even now, he could detect a slight wavering in Quatre's cornflower blue eyes. 

Lady Une gave him an encouraging smile. "He's in the best hands possible Falcon... Meanwhile, the doctors say that all of you will make a full recovery and if you've had enough of the hospital ward, you'll be able to move back into your suites however with plenty of rest and no stress." 

Quatre smiled gratefully. "That would be nice, boss..." 

And the two pilots allowed themselves to be guided back to their hospital rooms to pack whatever they'd had brought to them in the hospital. 

* * *

A few hours later, all four pilots were found in their base of operations despite orders to remain on their floor and more preferably in their beds. 

Heero, Trowa and Quatre were slumped in the chairs around the table, the former two with crutches and arms in slings while Wufei sat in his wheelchair. The air was filled with light tension but also worry for the only member of the group that was still missing. 

"So Noin and Zechs went back to H28143?" Trowa asked mildly. 

"Aa," Wufei answered. "Nothing seems to be going on and being a small colony, all inbound traffic has been halted and all communications are being monitored until further notice." 

"So Kotamo must still be on Earth," Heero deducted. 

Wufei agreed. "Unless he decided to colony-skip." 

Quatre shook his head. "I doubt it... he has no power bases on any of the other colonies and nor is he such an influential figure that he will stir the support of other locals." 

"So we're forced to play a waiting game," Trowa commented. 

"Only until I get off these crutches..." Heero's thinly-veiled threat was clear to all. 

Then the door buzzed and Dorothy's voice came through, mocking and suppressing laughter. "Are you guys dead in there?" 

Quatre grinned in spite of himself and opened the door as Relena and Dorothy stepped in. Heero and Trowa however noticed a small shadow behind the taller girls and immediately whipped their guns out - much to the distress of Relena and amusement of Dorothy. 

"Dare?" Heero snarled. 

Wufei rolled his eyes good-naturedly and waved both guns down just as a small girl with a head of red hair stepped out from behind the older girls with a bright smile and a wave for the Chinese boy. "Konnichi wa Wufei-niichan!" 

Quatre looked stunned. "Mariemeia Barton...?" 

Dorothy smirked at him. "Not Barton, Khushrenada..." 

The eight-year-old offered them more reserved smiles to that she had offered Wufei and acknowledged, "Heero-san, Trowa-san, Quatre-san..." Then she half ran over to Wufei and clasped his hand. "Oba-san said I could visit... are you okay?" 

Wufei gave the girl a gentle pat on the head. "I'm fine Marie-chan... how's school?" 

"Good!" the girl grinned happily. "My friends are having a New Year's party soon!" 

Wufei smiled as the girl continued to chatter on. 

Quatre raised an eyebrow and then pulled Dorothy aside, speaking loud enough for both Heero and Trowa to hear. "What...?" 

Dorothy smirked. "Surprised? You shouldn't be... she's just getting the chance to be just a kid that she didn't get under Dekim... she's going to school and she's a lot smarter than she looks. She also doesn't know that Wufei was part of her siege, apparently Dekim thought of and put into effect that little addition to the plan without consulting his leader..." 

Quatre still gaped at the sight the chatting Mariemeia and Wufei made. "But... they..." 

Dorothy waved it off. "Oh yeah... the boss took her in, she is the daughter of Treize and all, and she's spent a lot of her time here at the office, which is why she also knows a lot of what's going on. She and Wufei really hit it off and they have almost a sibling relationship..." Dorothy leered and then raised her voice. "Underneath that tough front, Wufei's just another softie at heart..." 

Wufei pinned her with his ebony glare and gave a twisted little smile. "You'll pay for that one Catalonia." 

Relena laughed a little. "Enough you two..." She sobered a little. "How's Duo...?" 

Quatre sighed. "Withdrawal period shouldn't be too far away... We can only hope until then... God knows we can only hope..." 

Relena turned away and dropped into a seat, face carefully lowered. 

Dorothy looked sympathetic but then said, "There's another reason for our visit today. With the mission over - " 

"Almost," Heero interrupted. "Kotamo is still - " 

"That is only a matter of time Heero," Dorothy cut in. "But with the main mission over, the boss wants to know if you're staying on the job..." 

Trowa cocked his head. "Staying?" 

Dorothy nodded. "You guys are members of the Preventers now, highest-ranking members might I add, but with the objective of the mission that you were brought in for over, you guys now have a choice. You can either stay and continue working with the Preventers, in which case the proper authorities must be notified and arrangements made... or you can just go back to whatever you were doing before and forget this whole thing happened. In which case all records of your stay here will be erased as will your top-secret personnel file and the destruction of all passwords you have been issued while in service with the Preventers." 

"In other words all evidence of our presence here," Quatre paraphrased. 

Dorothy shrugged. "You will appreciate the lengths that the Preventers must go to to keep our identities secret, none other than the boss would know us by our real names and only the higher-ranking members are allowed to make contact with us. If any were to get a hold of records - however unlikely - it could be means of jeopardizing the entire organization..." 

Quatre smiled grimly. "I understand..." 

"And if you're worried about your family business Quatre, don't be." Dorothy grinned. "It is unlikely that you would be needed here all the time... More than likely, the boss would prefer you to be wandering around. The only difference would be that you will be called if anything comes up..." 

"Wakatta..." 

"And you don't even have to answer now, you can think about it for a few days..." 

Quatre leaned back in his chair. "I know... but I've already decided... I'm staying." 

Trowa raised an eyebrow at him and Quatre replied, "Oh I know Rashid probably won't approve but it's my own decision... and my sisters can take care of the business if I'm called away... We've worked too hard for this peace and I don't want anything jeopardizing it again... If it means that I'm going to have to work for it, so be it." 

Trowa's lips made a slight upward quirk and he inclined his head. "I'll stay..." 

By now all eyes were centered on Heero who had remained silent. 

"Heero...?" Dorothy prompted. 

It was then that the communit beeped and Sally's face appeared. "Thought I might find you all there... Duo's gone into withdrawal, he's in room 591." 

At once the room emptied as fast as possible of its injured occupants and the group hurriedly made its way to the hospital wing. 

* * *

Outside room 591, the group met up with Sally and Lady Une who were conferring together. Quatre reached them first and asked, "How is he? Is he okay? What's going on?" 

Sally shook her head and motioned them into the adjourning room and gestured for them to sit as Lady Une swept a quiet Mariemeia away. 

In the room, Sally faced her audience with a grim face. "All I can say is that it doesn't look too hopeful..." 

Relena gasped. "What...?" 

Sally shook her head sadly. "Even barely an hour into the process, he's beginning to burn up already and from what we know about D-7 detoxication, that's a bad sign. Only a minute percentage of the people it was tested on survived after burning up on the first day... and none of them had had as long an exposure to it as Duo had..." 

Heero slitted his eyes. "What are you saying exactly?" 

Sally faced him squarely. "Only to be prepared for the worst." 

"You can't be serious, there must be something..." Relena denied, sapphire eyes wide. 

Sally looked at her with a sad face. "Believe me Relena, if something could be done it will and would already have been done. But as it is, Delora7.9 is a relatively new drug and illegal which means not enough tests have been done on it. From the circumstances, it's unlikely that we'll be able to do anything other than play it by ear..." 

* * *

A day and a half later, Heero, Trowa and Wufei had been ordered back to their rooms, told that they couldn't stand up to the stress of staying by their unconscious friend's bedside while they were still recuperating. Reluctantly they'd agreed, stamina not yet up to the normal and left Quatre, Dorothy and Relena to look after Duo, Lady Une occasionally popping in to monitor how things were going and Sally regularly to dose Duo with fluids and other substances to keep his body functioning. 

After only thirty nine hours, Duo had begun to hallucinate, tossing and turning in the bed fighting the imaginary monsters that his own toxicated mind conjured up for him. Sweat ran like rivers down his body despite the temperature-regulated room and long chestnut bangs were plastered to his forehead in damp locks. 

Twice every day, the sopping sheets had to be changed while every half hour, Quatre moved from his position next to the bed to grab a towel and dry Duo's face off, blue eyes holding back tears at the pain that Duo had been forced to go through. Soon, Quatre, with his own injuries, wasn't able to keep up and Dorothy took over, quelling Quatre with a stern glance that threatened bodily harm if he moved from his seat again. Relena sat on the other side, clutching at Duo's clammy hand as if to reassure herself that he was still warm and alive. 

No words were spoken and neither were they needed but Quatre couldn't help but feel the unnatural silence that still shrouded the room despite Duo's presence. It was something he'd never get used to, already being accustomed to the never-ending chatter of Deathscythe's former pilot. 

Relena's urgent voice cut into his thoughts and he started. 

"I think he's coming to...!" 

Instantly all three crowded around the bed and Quatre scanned Duo's fluttering eyelashes. "Duo...? Duo can you hear me?" 

Slits of hazed indigo showed under the eyelids and a silent moan escaped dry, cracked lips. 

Dorothy looked worriedly from her position and the walked away, calling over her shoulder. "I'm going to tell Sally." Neither of the figures still at the bed noticed - or simply didn't respond - as they were too focussed on the patient on the bed. 

"Duo...? Duo!" Relena searched the pale but unnaturally flushed face for any sign of further consciousness but didn't find any. 

After a few minutes of tense anticipation, Duo finally opened his eyes further but failed to focus on anything. A hoarse whisper was as loud as a shout in a room where the only two fully conscious occupants were holding their breaths. "So... so dark... why...?" 

Quatre exchanged a worried glance with Relena, eyes darting up to the dimmed but still perfectly functioning lights on the ceiling. 

With alarming speed, Duo's eyes were fully open but unseeing of anything as he began to struggle against non-existent bonds. "No... Keep away... KEEP AWAY!" No longer merely struggling after a few seconds, as the rasping shout was sounded, Duo began thrashing, flailing limbs this way and that trying to keep whatever he thought was out to get him away from him. 

"Duo! Duo!!" With surprising speed and strength, Quatre grabbed the American's shoulders and pinned them to the bed, valiantly trying to quell the obviously panicking Duo. "Duo, stop!! You're dreaming! Duo!!" 

"LET GO OF ME!!!" The hoarse cry was punctuated with a lashing fist that landed on Quatre's cheek with devastating accuracy and the unsuspecting Arabian reeled back as he tried to keep his balance. Steadying himself on the back of one of the chairs, Quatre contained the curl of pain that tore at his wound and quickly made his way back to Duo. 

Grabbing one flailing arm, the only thought in Quatre's mind was to stop Duo from moving and doing more damage to himself than he already had. Ignoring his own injuries, he quickly flipped Duo over on his stomach and pinned the one arm behind him in a painful hold as he jumped onto the bed to place his knee in Duo's back. "Duo!! Stop!!!" But Duo gave no indication that he'd heard and despite the extra weight on his back, continued to struggle as he snarled blindly at the private hell his own mind had created. 

Relena watched the entire scenario with wide eyes. Having never seen the gentle Quatre do anything as forceful or as excruciatingly painful as this to anyone, Relena had to forcefully remind herself that the polite and caring Quatre had also been chosen as a Gundam pilot for a reason. And she was just beginning to see other part of that reason. 

As she watched the ensuing battle between a heavily breathing Quatre and a hallucinating Duo, Relena was helpless to do anything, knowing that she didn't have neither the speed nor the strength to hold Duo down and dodge the fist that was still lashing out every which way. It was only when Quatre's painful gasp tore her gaze from the furious mask on Duo's face that she spotted the perspiration trickling down Quatre's face and the slight stain of vermilion that was beginning to spread over the heavy bandages over Quatre's stomach through the Arabian's white shirt. 

Unknowing of what else to do, the Queen of the World ran out the door in hopes of finding someone to help and before she reached the second corridor, collided with the two figures on crutches coming the opposite way. 

"Relena?" 

Raising her shocked eyes, Relena gasped in relief. "Heero! Trowa! Duo... he's woken up but he's hallucinating. I don't think Quatre can keep him under control any longer..." 

"What?" Trowa's quiet but forceful question caused Relena to take in a quick deep breath and calm her shaken nerves. 

"Duo's thrashing around and Quatre's trying to keep him from hurting himself but I think Quatre has already torn his stitches! You have to help him!" 

Without a further glance, both former-pilots broke into a desperate run despite their crutches and arrived in Duo's room just in time to see Quatre almost collapse but just manage to maintain his hold on the struggling Duo. While both dropped their crutches and as Heero rushed forward to pin Duo down with his greater strength, Trowa pulled a panting Quatre off the bed, noting the spread of crimson that had already soak through the many layers of bandages and the front of his white shirt. 

Duo's snarls and thrashing sounds filled the air for the next few moments but he could do nothing to budge the solid weight of Heero on his back and nor could he move his arms from Heero's iron grip. Quatre was carefully and slowly lowered into a chair, unable to keep from grimacing as every little movement tore the stitches on his stomach a bit more as Trowa kept a careful eye both on him and on Duo, unable to do anything else because his knee was unable to be moved. Relena stood by Quatre's chair, knuckles white from gripping the back of the other chair as she stared at the transformed face of the American pilot. 

That was the way Sally and Dorothy found them a minute later and immediately Sally leaned out the door to yell, "I need the tranquillizers and another stretcher!!" Moving into the room, she picked up the crutches from the doorway and giving Heero who had Duo under control a glance, moved to examine Quatre's wound. Passing Trowa's crutches to him and giving Dorothy Heero's, Sally's blue eyes hardened as she opened the shirt to reveal the saturated bandages underneath. 

Two orderlies burst into the room, one wheeling a stretcher while the other held a tray of tranquillizers and Sally began giving orders, taking the tranquillizers. As she prepared a syringe, she snapped to the orderlies, gesturing to Quatre, "You and you, I want you to get him on the stretcher as gently as possible and then remove the bandages. Cobra help them." Squeezing some of the liquid out of the syringe, Sally turned to Heero. "Falcon, hold his arm down as firmly as you can, I don't want him moving." 

As soon as the tranquillizer was injected, Duo visibly calmed down and once again, his eyes closed as he lapsed into unconsciousness. Gesturing for Heero to get off, Sally retrieved Heero's crutches to give back to him and then turned to Quatre's wound. "Priority one, get him to the OR as fast as possible, I want that wound restitched and he may need more blood." The orderlies nodded and carted a grimacing Quatre out the door. 

Silence but for the heavy breathing of the room's occupants filled the atmosphere for a few seconds before Dorothy asked, "Sally?" 

Sally stared at Duo's limp form for a moment and sighed. "I really don't know... this is only the middle of the third day. I really have to say that with hallucinations like that, his chances of surviving are slim to say the least for the next day and a half..." 

"Chigau..." Relena whispered, turning her gaze to Duo's prone form. "Chigau yo..." 

* * *

Harsh breathing from one of the occupants in the otherwise silent room filled the air despite the presence of six others. Most eyes were focussed on the one person that lay on the bed in the hospital room as the prone body continued its futile struggle against a vision of something that wasn't there. 

Relena sat by the window with Sally next to her, her blue eyes unfocussed but glittering with fierce hope and determination. Sally's own blue eyes were detached and assessing, running over the boy in the bed with clinical precision. Wufei sat motionless in his wheelchair beside the extra bed placed in the room though his hand was clenched into a tight fist beside him. Quatre lay on the extra bed, the extra dressings on his body and the slight wince of pain every now and then couldn't deter him from keeping vigil on his friend through what would probably be the hardest few hours of his life. Heero was slumped on the floor, head down, leaning against a wall as if asleep but undoubtedly not. Trowa simply sat on a spare chair and evaluated Duo's condition. 

The thrashings and struggles that had been so abundant in the first few days were neither abating nor ceasing in frequency. Instead, Trowa knew that Duo's body was just no longer able to cope with the raw amount of energy that was expended during those often but brief times. The breathing was harsher and the movements more desperate, sweat continuing to pour off the ailing body. Inwardly, Trowa was aware that this would be where Duo's will to live would be tested to the limit. 

As the hours wore on, Quatre and Relena drifted to sleep while Sally left to make a quick round of other patients. Wufei's eyes were closed but it was evident that he wasn't asleep and Heero and Trowa kept up their never-ending vigil. 

As the last twenty or so hours drew near, it had come to the point when Sally had flat out refused more tranquillizers to be administered. 

"There's nothing we can do. If we give him anymore, he's not going to wake up at all!" 

Relena took another look through the door at the thrashing figure on the bed. "But there must be something..." 

Sally sighed and placed a hand on Relena's shoulder. "I'm sorry Relena. We've done all we can, the rest is up to him..." Then she too cast Duo a compassionate look before shaking her head and walking away. 

Biting her lip, Relena turned and found Heero standing right behind her, leaning on the doorframe. Dashing tears from her eyes, she moved automatically and hiccuped when the Japanese boy's arms closed around her in a silent but comforting hug. Burying her face in the shoulder of his Preventers jacket, Relena murmured, "He's going to be okay... He has to be okay..." 

Not knowing what else to say, Heero merely nodded slightly. "Aa..." 

* * *

Tension and agitation heightened as the last few hours arrived and Duo was moved to an intensive care unit where his condition would be closely monitored until he came out of withdrawal. The others waited, silently watching on the other side of the thick, sound-proof glass. Watching and waiting for the final verdict on their friend's will to live. 

Stress finally catching up with her, Relena had fallen asleep, head pillowed on Wufei's shoulder, who sat motionless in deep meditation. Quatre had also dozed off, the added combination of blood-loss and fatigue of the last week helping him in the matter. Only Heero, Trowa and Dorothy stayed alert, watching the braided figure on the bed in the other room. 

The reason why they were the first to react when a faint continuous beeping sounded through the speakers in place of the short bursts that they'd become accustomed to. 

While Heero and Trowa immediately got to their feet, Dorothy was already running out the door, yelling. "SALLY!!!!" 

As the others became aware, varying degrees of horror flashed through their faces. 

Duo was flat lining. 

* * *

Duo Maxwell was floating somewhere in a stifling void, darkness pressing in on all sides as he stared about him for a source of light. Unable to find any, he shuddered as another particularly painful spasm spread through his body and he curled up to try and shut it out. 

Pain had become a very familiar thing to him. For as long as he could remember, pain had always been on the surface of his thoughts. Always there reminding him that he could do nothing to escape from it. Over time, he'd gotten accustomed to it, but this... This was so much worse...

Perhaps it was time to just give up... Despite the darkness all around him, he knew that he was sinking. Slowly but surely sinking deeper into the labyrinth around him. Yet, despite the occasional spasms of pain that ripped through him, the constant pain that was always tormenting him was lessening the deeper he sank. Would it fade completely if he sank deep enough? If that was so, then why did he continue to fight his way up? Wouldn't it make more sense to do everything in his power to stop the pain??

What was up there that he couldn't let go of? He couldn't see it, and he sure as Hell couldn't remember it... only this vague nagging at the back of his mind that it was important. Important enough to endure this pain for... But what was it? And would it really be so bad if he let it go?

It couldn't be so bad, could it?

With that thought in mind, Duo Maxwell finally stopped reaching for something that had, for a very long time, existed only in his mind. And finally let himself sink...

Without warning, a flash of blinding white light imprinted itself into his eyes, followed by drowned out words. *... on Duo... let us... before*

He blinked slowly through heavy eyelids. He knew that voice... didn't he...?

Another lightning strike of white. *... You can't die...* Dying...? Was that what was happening? And that voice... so familiar...

*... too many people... depending on you...* There was...? But why couldn't he place that voice...? And the pain was back. With every flash of that bright light, the pain came back in folds, forcing him to curl in on himself once again.

*... I'm not going to let you die...*

He knew that voice now... Sally...? And with the image of Sally came the stern face of a Chinese man, and then a pair of pleading clear azure eyes under a sweep of golden bangs... Wufei...? Quatre...?

What followed was a lean man with bangs falling over half his face as he closed his eyes and turned away in disappointment while another simply glared, accusingly, at him with raging dark blue eyes. Trowa...? Heero...?

And finally, there was another pair of gentle blue eyes, in a face framed with wheat blonde hair... Relena...

He knew these people... they were his family. Was that what he had been so unconsciously holding onto all this time...? And if it was, could he so callously let them down?

*Duo no baka! Dammit, work with me!!*

He couldn't... that was one thing they would never forgive him for.

And with that, the whole world turned white. 

* * *

A silent group of people stood waiting, eyes riveted on the still figure that was being surrounded by lab-coated people and machines. Rapid orders from Sally drifted through the speakers as she commandeered the others in the room, preparing to do all she could to jump start Duo's heart. 

While the rest of the staff were silent as they performed their tasks, Sally's muttered whispers were enough to reach the hearing of everyone in the other room. Preparing the equipment, and carefully watching the flat line that jumped once in accordance with Duo's unresponsive body, Sally began the process. 

"Come on Duo... you've never let us down before." 

Jolt. 

"Shinigami can't die Duo. You can't die." 

Jolt. 

"Too many people are depending on you." 

Jolt. 

"I'm not going to let you die Duo!" 

Jolt. 

"Duo no baka! Dammit, work with me!!" 

Jolt. 

_*beep... beep... beep... beep...*_

"YATTA!!!" Relena cheered and threw shaking arms around Heero's shoulders next to her, burying her face in his shoulder as her tears of joy soaked into his jacket. "He's alive Heero! He's alive!!" 

Returning the hug, Heero allowed a small smile to grace his lips. He could see Quatre's elated expression and Trowa's answering tug of the lips. Wufei smirked proudly, as if he'd always known that Duo would pull through while Dorothy merely smiled in relief. 

Sally walked into the room with a triumphant smile and was immediately fielding an armful of joyous Relena. 

"Thank you Sally! Thank you!! Thank you!!" 

"Don't mention it Relena." Sally lightly returned the hug and then cast another look at Duo through the glass. "Looks like he'll pull through after all..." 

Quatre's eyes were slightly misty as he too, looked through the glass. "He has too much to live for... He had to come back." 

"What's going to happen now?" Wufei asked. 

Sally grinned. "We monitor him and just wait for him to wake up. He's sleeping peacefully now. We'll move him back into his room in a few hours just to make sure." She cast a fond look at Duo again. "He's a lucky one..." 

Heero snorted. "Baka..." 

Chuckles reverberated in the room until Sally took a look at her other patients. "All right everybody, show's over, he's going to be fine. Now I want all of you to take a well-deserved rest. Those injuries aren't going to heal if you keep trying to do things as if they weren't there. Especially you Quatre!" 

Grabbing the handle of Wufei's wheelchair, Relena began the walk to the door. "Dorothy and I will stay with Duo. We'll call if there's any change." 

Reluctant but under Sally's baleful eye, all four injured Preventers made their way up to their suites and collapsed onto their beds. 

Lying on his own, Quatre stared up at the ceiling with a wide smile. Duo was going to be okay and soon they'd have their own Shinigami back again. That was the most important thing. 

With pleasant thoughts drowning out the slight pain of his stitches, Quatre fell into peaceful sleep for the first time in a long month. 

* * *

Sitting next to Duo's bedside, Dorothy watched smiling as Relena slept, head pillowed on her arms beside Duo's arm. Moving her gaze to Duo's sleeping face, Dorothy's smile grew wider. 

_'You are one lucky bastard Duo Maxwell. If only you knew how many people you had dancing to your tune, I'm sure you'd be laughing right now, teasing the others about being sentimentalists at heart. Yeah, I can see that going down real well with Yuy no matter how much he's changed. _

It's fortunate that you decided to stay for a while longer, but then I guess you really didn't want Yuy, Chang and Winner after you in your next life ne? Not to mention Barton and the little Peacecraft over there. Hell, even I would've gone after you for all you put us through these last few days. 

You're through one gate, there's just one more to cross before we can put this whole sordid mess behind us. I wonder if you're strong enough to do it. I know, from personal experience, that memories are the hardest things to fight. Will you be able to put those memories behind you once they've returned and continue with your life? Or will you just choose an easy way out of this painful existence they call 'life'? Only time will tell I guess. Time and the support that you'll no doubt get from everybody... even me... 

Ganbatte Maxw- Duo...' 

* * *

Deafening reports of rapid gunshots echoed through the shooting gallery as the sound of the gun being placed on the bench followed. Mechanics whirled as the target travelled towards the front to be examined. 

Coming into view, the man standing in front smirked as he fingered the cluster of bullet holes right where the heart would be, creating not separate little holes but a large one, almost enough to put his entire hand through. 

Removing the ear-muffs, the middle-aged Nicholas Kotamo turned and walked out, inserting fresh bullets into the gun as he walked. 

"Shi no Tenshi may have failed, but I'll finish the job." 

He chuckled. 

"Sayonara, Relena Darlian Peacecraft." 

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~ 

  



End file.
